


Of Forests, Water, and Wolves

by thesneakythree



Series: The Sneaky Three [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marauders - Fandom
Genre: 1970s, All seven years at Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, BIPOC!James Potter, Coming of Age, F/F, F/M, Hogwarts First Year, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Original Character - Elias Toren Rosier, Original Character - Scarlette Callidus Hemmingway, Original Character-centric, Orignal Character - Delphini Andromeda Piscus, POV Alternating, POV Original Character, first wizarding war, part one of series, so much classic rock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 70,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28267722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesneakythree/pseuds/thesneakythree
Summary: September 1st, 1971 --  a large crimson steam train pulls into Kings Cross station, three children step onto Platform 9 3/4; and with that our story begins. Follow the adventures and misadventures of Scarlette, Elias, and Delphini as they traverse their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.New chapters posted every day!
Relationships: James Potter/OC, Marauders & Lily Evans Potter, Marauders & OC, Marauders & Severus Snape
Series: The Sneaky Three [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070846
Kudos: 4





	1. A Prologue, In Three Parts

**Author's Note:**

> It all started with one simple text to one group chat comprised of three nerds:
> 
> "guys i'm feeling very nostalgic can we all watch harry potter 2 tonight please"
> 
> -S.S.W, May 7th, 2020
> 
> And thus it began. A mission fueled by nostalgia, nerdom, and quarantine-boredom. The goal? To write seven full-length novels following seven years of Hogwarts schooling from the perspective of three original characters, taking place from 1971-1979. The very messy stream of consciousness which led to such an undertaking went as such; first, we thought we would make a book club to re-read and analyze all the Harry Potter books, as we had all been wanting to read them again, but had no motivation to do so. The thought of a book club soon evolved into a book club with us also having fun making OC's and nifty mood boards. Pretty soon all notion of re-reading anything was thrown out the window and replaced with a writing schedule, multiple book plot-charts, 20+ chapter summaries in order, and a new account popped up on Wattpad.
> 
> We hope you read, have fun, and learn to love these characters as much as we have. We also want you to know that while constructive criticism is always welcome, hate is not. Any hate comments directed towards us, or anyone else who is enjoying the story will be deleted and (depending on the severity of the comment) reported. Some of these chapters will contain sensitive topics such as harassment, sexual harassment, homophobia, panic attacks, minor self harm, depression, and social anxiety. This statement applies to all seven books.
> 
> We ask readers to not copy any of the stories or artworks to any other site without our permission. If you want to talk to us, you can message us through The Sneaky Three Wattpad account.
> 
> All artwork is original and belongs to M.A.B. or L.E.R. (they are both the two illustrators and two out of three of the authors). All non-original characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> From the authors,
> 
> M.A.B.   
> S.S.W. L.E.R.

|Part One|

It was a sunny day in Brighton, England, outside the Hemmingway household. Eleven-year-old Scarlette, the only child, was playing with a set of figurines, making them dance in the wind. Her mother, Iris Hemmingway, was always beautiful, with hazel eyes and light brown locks of hair trailing down her back. Her father was standing beside her, laughing when the dragon figure was suddenly sprouting flames, he said,

“Hey, Lette, are you excited for Hogwarts? Bloody hell, I miss it. It was my home away from home.” Scarlette nodded. 

“Papa, do you think the kids there will be nice, and funny, and my friends?” Scarlette said, looking up at her father, who chuckled slightly. 

“Love, if they aren’t,” he said, “they’ll be missing the best thing that’ll ever happen to them!” Scarlette looked over to her mother and saw her beaming down at her. 

“Lette, you’ll do well. Headmaster Dumbledore is a close friend of ours, and he knows your talents. Now, it’s time for a bit to eat, sweetness.” They all walked inside and had some food. A joyous family. Scarlette barely ate anything, she was so excited. Hogwarts was a place she always dreamt of, and even though she had made friends with all of the creatures in the garden she wanted more. She loved people, and it seemed as though they loved her too. 

She skipped up the stairs two at a time and ran into her room. The soft blue of her walls reflected in her eyes, and she looked at her posters of magical creatures, a unicorn, a niffler. Her weasel Aurora skittered to her shoulder, settling there. Scarlette chuckled and turned her attention to her closet. She summoned her brand new red mahogany trunk, which floated past her and opened onto her floor. She looked at her collection of summer dresses, them all floating to attention. Quickly, she sorted out the ones she wanted, settling for two emerald green dresses, one baby blue, one a pink-rose, and her favorite soft red dress that had little golden swirls on it. Satisfied with her choices, she turned her attention to her collection of skirts. She decided that she would wear black skirts, as per the uniform, but that didn’t mean they had to look bad. She chose two regular knee-length black skirts and three longer flowy skirts. She summoned all her black socks and folded them into her trunk, as well as a couple pairs of white ones. 

Finally, she looked for her prized necklace, a thin gold chain with a small vial attached to it, the vial contained one white feather. She’d had the necklace for as long as she could remember, and her mother had once told her that the feather was dear to the family, and it was now her responsibility to care for it. They had gone robe shopping two weekends ago and she had her black robes ready to go. To save her time, her mother had charmed the robes to display her house emblem on them once she was sorted. 

She looked at her almost bare closet and saw two cloaks still hanging there. One emerald green, and one a ruby-red. She grabbed both and put them into her trunk, still balancing Aurora perfectly. 

Then, she turned and walked to her window, out of which she saw her mother and father decorating the garden for autumn. The family had a tradition where each season they changed the appearance of their backyard. For winter, they’d charm snow onto the trees and hang little glowing icicles along the branches. In the spring, her mother would charm the earth of the garden, first melting the enchanted snow, and then pacing the garden, letting flowers grow from where she stepped. In those evenings the family would gather outside and place small fountains and glowing flowers onto the ground. In the summers, her father would change the light green leaves to dark green, the grass too. The flowers would become more orderly, and summer-like. In the dusks, they would hang twinkling lights in the air and prance about summoning visions of fairies and unicorns.

Then, as they were doing right this moment, they would turn the leaves of the trees different colors, paint the ground a soft orange and hang dim little yellow, red, and orange lights in the trees. The fountains would leave, getting replaced with small, perfect puddles, and the flowers would leave in exchange for apples. Scarlette always loved winter, because a family of white rabbits would visit them, and snowy owls would fly to their kitchen with Christmas letters in tow. She would be in charge of the tree, and she’d grow a lovely elm or spruce, and decorate it with multicolored lights and little ornaments. 

Now, she watched as the flowers turned to apples, and the greens turned to oranges and yellows. She was so excited for Hogwarts, she’d grown up with stories of the tall towers and large lake. Her parents had offered her a chance to take the journey to King’s Cross on her own, to fully experience it as they did, and she heartily accepted. 

Yesterday, they had bought her a wand. Even though she didn’t really need it, she was thrilled by the prospect of using it. 

Since she knew wandless magic from an early age, her father, who was the right-hand man of the minister of magic,  Millicent Bagnold, got a special exception to the underage magic law as long as she didn’t perform it in front of muggles, and Scarlette was very cautious. Her parents were very important to her, and they had taught her everything they could. Her most important lesson, she would find in future years, was acceptance.

Her mother came from two muggles who had thrown her out after discovering her unnatural gift, and her father came from a pureblood family. They were still close with the family, even though behind closed doors, they would mutter about the “mudblood” that their precious Ashwin had married. They loved Scarlette deeply and saw through their pride and prejudice to shower her with gifts and love. 

Her lesson on bigotry had involved her mother telling her about the harassment she had suffered, and her father describing his grandparent’s involvement with Gellert Grindlewald, a decidedly evil wizard. Scarlette didn’t quite understand why these people had issues with others, and through that, she decided she wouldn't be a “bigot”. 

She decided to jump in on the decoration, as the sun had now set and it was time for her to place lights. She nimbly jumped onto her windowsill, summoned a strong breeze, and hopped down onto it. Aurora couldn’t have skittered off of her faster if she’d tried. She sat sidesaddle on the gale and landed on her feet right behind her mother. 

“Mum!” Her mother jumped slightly, and a couple of lights fell out of the trees. Her father said, “ _ Wingardium Leviosa _ ” and those lights floated up again. 

“Hello my love, are you excited for tomorrow?” Iris laughed. Scarlette hopped in place and exclaimed, 

“I might not get any sleep….”

“Scarlette, that’s completely fine. I’ll give you a sleeping draught. Go upstairs, you’ve finished packing?” She asked and Scarlette nodded. 

“Fly yourself to bed, little one.” 

“I wanted to help with the lights.” Scarlette’s shoulders fell and her mother shrugged. 

“You may hang two.” 

Scarlette’s face lit up, and she quickly placed her fingertips together. “ _ Lumo- _ ” Iris interrupted her. 

“Use your wand.” 

Scarlette muttered, “ _ Accio _ ” and her wine-colored wand flew to her. 

“Now summon the light.” 

Scarlette pointed her wand at a dark spot on the tree. “ _ Lumos resto! _ ” Her wand tip lit up, and the light floated to the tree and stood there. 

“ _ Rubrum _ ” The light turned a ruby hue. Her mother gently guided her to the back door of the house. “Go on, love. The potion is on the table.” Scarlette sighed and walked into the dark kitchen. She glanced at the table and saw the vial sitting there. She took it and poured some into her sink.  _ I’ll practice my spells instead…  _

She wandered upstairs and lay in her bed all night, filling her room with different objects, some transfigured, some summoned. She turned Aurora green and red, laughing quietly. The next day couldn’t come quickly enough. 

* * *

|Part Two|

The day was cloudy, as days often were in London. In a small apartment in Paddington, there sat a girl with a letter in her hand. Delphini carefully contemplated the letter, which she had so long awaited. She remembered when she had gotten the letter, how she had torn it open on the stoop, before her parents had even gotten the chance to run down the stairs. The letter was something of a paradox for her. On one hand, it carried the feeling of being absolutely thrilled with her acceptance to Hogwarts, the shot of adrenaline that had come with breaking the wax seal and reading the first few words of fine script. She smiled to herself as she replayed the memory, and how completely delighted she had been. Her mood quickly soured as she thought about what her acceptance meant. She would have to leave home, and spend all of her time far from her parents and her cozy apartment. The thought of losing the endless afternoons in her dad’s study, or the bright mornings of baking with her mom, caused a deep-seated sadness to swell up in her chest. She placed the letter, which at that point had been thoroughly crinkled, back onto the dining room table. 

Delphini resolved to keep her mind on the positive, and she walked into her kitchen. There, she found her mother sitting at the table. Her mother looked up at her and smiled, somewhat of a rarity. 

“Hey, Delphini. Ready for some lunch?” She questioned in her heavy French accent. Delphini’s relationship with her mother was somewhat uncommon, for no reason other than the personalities involved. Delphini’s mother was a muggle, though that was hardly a detriment to her. She was the capable one of the family, managing the finances and planning with a keen eye for organization. She was also incredibly perceptive, though not always the most emotionally adept. Nevertheless, she loved her family fiercely, and had always been a strong advocate for Delphini’s education at Hogwarts. 

Delphini was hungry, and nodded enthusiastically at the mention of some food. She then sat down at the kitchen table, where her copy of  _ Pride and Prejudice _ was waiting for her. She picked up the book and began reading immediately, her mind settling into the familiar territory of Jane Austen. 

“You’re reading  _ Pride and Prejudice _ again? At this point, I’ve no idea how you haven’t memorized it yet.” Her mother remarked absently, as she cut some apple slices for their lunch. 

“It doesn’t matter if I already know how the story is gonna go, I just like how it gets there.” Delphini said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her mother rolled her eyes fondly at her daughter’s antics, but didn’t say anything else. She knew that Delphini was anxious to go off to school, and understood how comforting her favorite stories were to her. She felt a warmness rise in her chest as she remembered the first time Delphini had picked up her (already annotated) copy of  _ Pride _ , and a small smile came to her angular features. 

It was at that point that Delphini’s father strode into the room. Anyone looking at Delphini Piscus alongside her mother would be only mildly confused at the lack of resemblance. Bright blue-grey eyes and a small, narrow nose were about the only features that the two shared. However, anyone looking at Delphini Piscus alongside both of her parents would begin to question whether Delphini was secretly adopted (She was not, her family just had a wealth of unexpressed recessive traits). Delphini was blonde-haired with a strong widow’s peak and a defined jaw that tapered to a pointed little chin. She had small, delicate hands and narrow shoulders. Her parents both had square jawlines, brown hair, broad shoulders, and large, sturdy hands. Not to mention the fact that nobody on either side of the family could place the widow’s peak, with every photographical record showing rounded hairlines on every distant and direct relative. Nevertheless, Delphini was her father’s daughter in spirit just as much as she was by birth. Both were naturally inquisitive and had an endless thirst for knowledge that bordered on infuriating. They both struggled with vague directions, mostly due to a chronic tendency to overthink and dissect the most simple commands for every possible meaning. Where Delphini had inherited her mother’s determination and lack of ‘people skills’, she had inherited her father’s endless curiosity and ruthless intellectualism. 

At present, Delphini’s father smiled broadly as he saw his daughter sitting at the kitchen table with a familiar paperback. 

“You’ve annotated that thing so much, I don’t know how you can still see the words at all.” He said, with an air of fond teasing. 

At this, Delphini chuckled. Well, really it was more a forceful exhale, but the point was made nonetheless. She had annotated the book heavily, just as her mother had done before her. Part of what Delphini loved so much about reading the book was seeing her own mental processes laid out alongside her mother’s. Her father was the wizard in her family, coming from two muggle parents. He was incredibly adept with potions and magical animals, meaning that he had quickly found a career as a magizoologist. His endless passion for learning had only supplemented this, as he learned in depth about the animals he handled and cared for. Delphini secretly wished that one day she could match his level of empathy and understanding for the beings around him, but she figured that she’d have time to figure that out once she got to school. Her father had gone to Hogwarts as well, narrowly ending up a Ravenclaw. Strangely enough, he’d always said that Delphini seemed like a Hufflepuff. Delphini disagreed with this, if on no other grounds than her obtuseness when it came to anything involving other people. 

Her mother finished arranging lunch for them, which was more a platter of morsels than an actual meal. Today, it was cheese with apple slices, peanut butter, and strawberries. There were also some crackers lined up along one edge, presumably for the cheese. Delphini immediately jumped up and popped a strawberry into her mouth, at which her father feigned a scanalized expression. Delphini giggled a little as she chewed. 

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Her father asked, grabbing a cracker with some cheese for himself. 

Delphini pondered for a moment. She thought about all the new opportunities ahead of her, of how much she’d learn, and how much she’d leave behind. Her conflict must have been obvious, as her mother looked up at her too. After a minute, she plainly said,

“I don’t know.” 

She had chosen this response because it was the truth, however much it terrified her. Delphini, young as she was, still had a lot left to learn about herself and her mind. One thing she did know for sure, however, was how much she hated the sensation of not knowing things. Knowing was the only way she had control of anything, and not knowing took that power from her. 

“Oh, well that’s alright, then.” Said her father, as if he’d not just defied every expectation for a response. 

Delphini looked suddenly up at him, visually confused. Her father correctly interpreted this as a non-verbal request for clarification, and thus he continued. 

“Well, no kid should be totally sure of themselves before something so big. A lot’s about to change, and you’ve not gone through a change like this before. It’s only fair that you’re not sure if you’re ready.” He said, casually. Delphini admired this about him too, his ability to lay out step-by-step exactly why everything was okay. She felt some part of her anxiety calm down, and she reached over to take an apple slice with some peanut butter on it. Her mother looked fondly over at her father, and then back at Delphini. 

“Have you packed all your clothes yet?” She asked after Delphini had finished her apple slice. 

“No.” Delphini answered. She knew it was foolish, but some part of her felt like if she packed up her clothes then she’d really be going. That she’d really have to be without her family for months and months. 

After a moment, her mother said

“Well that simply won’t do, then. I’ll not have my daughter going off to Hogwarts with anything other than her best clothes. Come on, I’ll help you pack.” She said, an invitation more than a command. Delphini perked up at this, and stood up quickly. As she began to walk towards her room, her father spoke up from behind her.

“Pop quiz: What is the spell to summon light?” He asked, his tone more akin to someone telling an inside joke than of a teacher giving an assessment. 

“Lumos.” Delphini replied, almost without thinking. Her and her father frequently played this game, a sort of rapid-fire intellectual exercise. The question had been simple, but frequently they’d begin grilling each other about the traits of various magical beasts or trivial facts of magical history. Still, her father grinned at her correct answer, before waving her off to go and pack. Delphini went, pausing at the doorway to shoot her father a smug grin before bouncing towards her bedroom where her mother was already waiting by her open trunk. Delphini’s trunk was old, a deep orangish oak. The inside was lined with teal fabric, and the latch on the front had to be tied shut. Delphini loved the old trunk, and the history it carried. She imagined her father packing all of his clothes and supplies into it each year, just as she was doing now. She and her mother curated her clothes, filling the trunk with carefully folded button-down shirts and skirts. Delphini also placed her cauldron and her books neatly inside. Finally, after some time, her trunk was all the way packed. Delphini looked at it bittersweetly, pondering on all that it meant. Her mother quickly snapped her out of her reverie. 

“Would you look at that, it’s just about dinnertime!” she said, an implicit invitation for Delphini to sit in the kitchen with her while she prepared the food. Delphini gladly accepted, looking back at her packed trunk one last time before walking towards the kitchen, where she could already hear the clatter of pots and pans as they were taken down from their shelves. 

* * *

|Part Three|

Elias Toren sat in the far west wing of the Rosier Mansion listening to a Blodwyn Bludd record, gazing out at Sgúrr Alasdair. Across a small sea-loch the great peak jutted out of the earth, looming and beautiful, like an elephant rib cage of black stone curling over a vast grassy basin. If he turned to look to the south he would see dark waters crashing onto grey shores and even further, the muggle town of Elgol, a dozen or so small houses clustered around the bay, beaten by the wind and encrusted with sea salt. Elias frowned at the blue sky through the arched window and with a flick of his wand the little needle jumped off its record. The music which he typically used to ease his anxiety was becoming an annoying drawl which he couldn’t stand to hear. He sat in the silence and bit his tongue to stop from crying, again. 

Elias had grown up in these mountains, cold and sharp, he had spent so much of his childhood scrambling up smaller rock faces and studying the great ridges in ink and watercolor. For hours and hours he would sit at the edge of the sea-loch and dip his feet in the icy mountain water, or go hunting for red stags with his bloodhounds, or practice the cello on the porch looking over the bay. He had never gone to school, instead his governess taught him basic magic as well as mathematics, history, reading, and writing. Elias was a fast very learner, although he didn’t care much for academics, believing that they were constricting and dull, and instead focused on becoming highly skilled in a variety of artistic and physical fields. One could easily become bored with no proper school or real friends so he found it very important to occupy his time with a host of hobbies ranging from mountaineering to beekeeping. It would be clear to say he was a rather eccentric eleven year old, although no one would know it by the looks of him, and he would certainly be offended if you said so. He was comfortable and quite happy in his sprawling mansion with its dark mountains and sea-lochs and libraries and his freedom to only have to speak to another person if strictly necessary. He didn't want to leave. And yet, in a room on the second floor, sat on top of his bed, there was a large black trunk neatly packed with robes, dress robes, a caldron, plenty of books, and several other items required of first years attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

On his night stand lay the worst thing of all, a small train ticket, undeniable proof of what was happening. Why couldn’t they just hire him a private tutor? He had made the argument to his parents again and again since his letter arrived, but they dismissed it every time. His mother said he needed to meet other children his age.  _ I most certainly do not,  _ was what he thought when she first posed that nonsense reasoning. Whenever they had extended family with cousins his age, they seemed to be predisposed to give him a severe headache. He also simply did not know how those sort of things worked, talking to people, making friends, and attempting to learn had proved to be both emotionally and physically taxing. So it was really best for him to be left alone with his hounds, bees, owl, two snakes, tarantula, horse, and pine marten (whose name was Cosmo). He could stay where he felt most comfortable and plenty of other people would not be subjected to his inability to make conversation. It was the best for everyone, and yet, there was a train ticket sitting on his nightstand. 

Elias turned away from the window to squint at the grandfather clock across the room. Elias was well-trained in being able to read it, although anyone glancing at it for the first time, even up close, would most likely have absolutely no idea where to start. This was due to the fact that it was actually a tree that grew out of the floorboards and around one of the many large pillars supporting the room’s high vaulted ceiling, and had five different faces either inside its trunk or being supported by its branches. One of the faces only had eight strange glyphs in the place of numbers, another had fifteen hands of varying sizes and colors, but all Elias saw was  _ 18:30, supper _ . Suddenly, like a bird on a cuckoo-clock (intrusive and punctual), a house elf, Margie, scuttled into the room to tell him dinner was set. 

He stood up slowly and made his way to the door. Walking down the long candle lit hallways towards the dining room, he felt like he was marching towards the gallows, and soon a cold hand would wrap around his throat, and the candles would fade away. He hated this. He  _ hated  _ this. The heads of game seemed to glare down at him from their places on the high wall, displayed next to the arrows and spears of his ancestors who hunted them. He couldn't help but feel as though the house itself was watching him, which it most likely was; it was a very old house, and it had many ghosts, both seen and unseen. Elias turned a corner and was faced with a set of large dark oak doors, pausing for only a moment before entering. 

His father, Evan Marmor, sat at the head of the long dark table, and his mother Laura Athdara sat at his left, their conversation paused when Elias entered and sat on his father’s other side. A modest meal of rabbit vegetable soup, baked potatoes, fresh bread with cheese, and apple juice appeared before them within seconds of him sitting down. It was his favorite, they had asked for his favorite to be made on the eve of his leaving, and he was suddenly hit with waves of guilt made worse by the increasing silence. 

“T-Thank you, for having this made,” he said, without looking up from his bowl, cringing at how his voice broke through the quiet.

“You’re welcome,” if Elias had looked up he would have seen his father attempt to smile at him, before becoming deeply interested in his soup. 

Through the meal, his parents would occasionally make conversation with each other, but they left Elias out of it. He was glad for it because with every bite of his soup he became more and more nauseous and was currently shrunching and un-scrunching the leg of his robes under the table again and again and again. Once he had finished eating, he waited a few minutes until it was polite to excuse himself, and was about to leave when his mother broke from her conversation with his father. 

“Elias,” she turned to him and said, “we know how difficult this is for you darling, but you have to trust us. Hogwarts is a wonderful place, you will see it's not all as bad as your head is making it seem,” it was said in a very distinct tone that was technically caring but truly meant,  _ this is happening, get over it. _

“You’re mother’s right, you are going to be fine.” Evan tried another smile, but this time Elias was looking straight at him. He did not smile back. He said nothing, and left.


	2. Platform 9 ¾

Scarlette walked up to the barrier separating platforms nine and ten, checked the large clock, and glided through the wall. She appeared on the other side and instead of being greeted by a large group of people, the platform was empty, and no train was in the station. She looked around, confused. Then an understanding crossed her. She muttered a quick “ _ Accio! _ ” and the invitation to Hogwarts floated to her, no wand in sight. She knew that normal magical beings required a conduit for their powers, but she had always been able to summon and jinx objects without the use of such things.

When she first acquired her wand she was able to place all the scattered debris back to where they belonged, after several unaimed wand flicks. She looked at the deserted platform and walked to the edge, looking down at where there should be tracks. She gasped softly when she saw the sky on the ground, wondering if it was safe to investigate. After about thirty seconds of deliberation, she decided to do it. She magicked her trunk to a bench and tied it down; summoned her wand, and jumped down.

She expected to fall, but didn't, instead landed onto solid ground. She looked down in confusion, she was standing on nothing. She walked for a couple of seconds, trying to figure out what’s going on and then climbed back up. She raised her wand, reflected on the sky-ground, and walked back to her trunk. She opened it and took out a book,  _ Sense, and Sensibility _ by Jane Austen, and began to read.

~~~

At the end of the platform stood a girl. Somewhat nondescript, she was around 4’5 (4’4 _and a half_ , she would inform you with an air of bitterness), with soft-looking blonde hair and a carefully perfected posture. She was smiling very slightly. Behind round glasses sat a pair of blue-grey eyes that seemingly had the ability to scare off everyone in the immediate vicinity of her, given that nobody at all was talking to her. If one were to talk to this girl, one would notice two things immediately.

First, that her name was Delphini Piscus (she would tell you this, but only if you asked her directly what her name was. For this reason, it was very easy to carry on a conversation with Delphini while never actually knowing her name). 

Many things about Delphini could only be found out by asking directly, among these was the fact that she was very intelligent. Booksmart would maybe be a more accurate term for what Delphini was, given that she could regularly be found making terrible choices. Regardless, she was the type of person to explain exactly how a nuclear reactor worked when asked for her view on global warming. This, too, was one item on the now growing list of reasons why Delphini Piscus did not have many friends. 

One thing that almost nobody (read: her parents and her cats) knew about Delphini was that she spoke with a Northern accent. She had gotten it from her father, to her mother’s dismay. Delphini’s was a loud, boisterous, and wholly noticeable dialect which she did her utmost best to conceal under a more pleasant and neutral tone. This often gave the impression that Delphini was deliberately trying to hide something, which she was. She often stopped mid-sentence to repeat a word or phrase that she’d spoken in her native accent, leading many to believe that she had a stutter when she was younger. She did not, nor had she ever been willing to correct the assumption. 

~~~

Scarlette sat there for about a half an hour before getting bored and putting the book down. She walked back to the edge of the platform and sat down, dangling her legs off the edge. In the distance, she could see the smoke of the Hogwarts express coming to collect a soon full platform of students. She laughed at herself for reading the time on the address wrong and stood up. The platform began to fill with students and parents after about twenty minutes. Scarlette sat back down on the bench and tucked her trunk under it, to be respectful of other people’s space. She began to open her book again but was stopped by the coming of four boys, two with dark hair, one with light brown, and the last a blonde, and began to watch them. They were quite loud, and the tallest one yelled to a slightly shorter one, “James, oy, hurry up!” James, who was much taller than Scarlette, had dark skin, lovely dark eyes and curly brown hair. He began walking faster and yelled at the other, “Sorry that I don’t have freakishly long legs, you imp.” The “imp” said back, “At least I walk like a normal man, Jamie.” The “imp” had very pale skin, and longer black hair. His eyes were a beautiful grey blue.

“Listen, Sirius, James, let's all calm down, shall we?” The other boy with blue eyes spoke. He had fair brown hair, was the tallest boy and had honey brown eyes, with tan white skin. 

“Seriously, Remus?” Said Sirius, the “imp”, “Always trying to fix disagreements, aren’t you?” Remus looked at the ground. 

“We’ve just met, you imbecile.” Remus said. Scarlette giggled.  _ Silly boys _ , she thought.

“What was that, munchkin?” James turned towards her. She stood up, thinking that she could match his height, and still found herself looking up at him. 

“My name,” She said looking up at him, “Is Scarlette.” James waltzed closer to her. 

“Nice to meet you,  _ Scarlette _ . I’m James Potter, this is Remus Lupin,” he gestured to a boy with fair brown hair, 

“Hiya Scarlette” She smiled at him, 

“This is Sirius Black,” Sirius takes her hand and plants an exaggerated kiss on it, “and this is Peter Petergrew.” He gestures to the shortest of the group, and unfortunately the least attractive. Light short brown hair and plain eyes. Peter shifted awkwardly and said nothing. 

“It’s nice to meet all of you!” She smiled at them. 

James takes her hand and says in an exaggerated voice, “Would the lady like to sit with a couple lowly peasants?”

“That’d be nice, I think.” 

~~~

Laura and Evan Rosier marched their son, Elias, across the platform to the very front of the train. Laura was short and quite skinny, her skin seemed almost stretched over her bones, and she glanced around the platform like a nervous cat, doing her best to see everything and simultaneously avoid making eye contact. Evan on the other hand towered over the crowd like a perched eagle, his proud greying head held high, eyes fixed on the wall opposite him. Stuck between the two was a stocky eleven year old boy, with carefully comed dark brown hair, tired hazel eyes, and an empty expression on his face. Despite his age he was nearly two inches taller than his mother, and like his father, stared straight ahead with a tightened jaw. 

There was chaos on the platform, parents and children loudly chattering with friends and family and wondering if so and so had this or that, all of them almost screaming to hear each other over the din. At a glance, Elias would appear to be nearly oblivious to all of this, as though he was deaf, but he wasn't, in fact he was painfully aware of everything happening around him. He had never been in such a crowd and his stomach was churning and his fist clenched around the handle of his owl cage so tight his knuckles had turned pale and his nails bit into his palms. There were so many people… the ceiling would collapse, or the floor under his feet would break apart, he was sure of it. He almost had to stop himself from simply dropping to his knees that moment, covering his hands with his ears, and screaming, just to try to drown it all out. But he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t even cry in public, let alone make such a scene like that… even just the thought made him ashamed and embarrassed. So, instead, he stared at the far wall and counted the beat of Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 in his head, making sure to walk in place with each count, drowning out the chaos with a pattern. 

Elias snapped back to the present when he found himself backed against a brick pillar at the far end of the platform with his parents hovering in front of him, blocking him from view of all passers by and vice versa. His father handed him his black leather trunk, it already had a small  _ S  _ formed by a snake embroidered in the corner (it would be no surprise to him where he would be sorted, in fact, he knew there was only one option). Elias stared at the floor mindlessly answering “yes” as his parents recited an endless list of things to remember in hushed voices. After a few minutes, steam began to billow from the train’s engine as a whistle sounded, alerting everyone that the doors would be closing. Laura kissed her son on the forehead, Evan shook his hand. Elias stepped into the train and felt the door slam behind him, he turned around to wave goodbye through the window but the steam was blocking them from view, and within seconds the train had left. He could feel a burning rise in his cheeks and his hands begin to shake,  _ stop it, you’re fine,  _ he thought and bit down on his tongue to distract himself from his quickening heart. He turned away from the door, marching further into the train.

~~~

Delphini quickly realized that she really had better get on with what she’d come here to do. Mentally kissing her parents goodbye, she strode confidently through the wall to platform nine and three quarters and squared her shoulders. As her father had told her, people were less likely to doubt her if she  _ seemed _ confident. Nevertheless, going through the wall was slightly jarring and she had to pause for a minute to gain her bearings. As she did, she surveyed the world around her. It was chaotic, with children running back and forth and families saying their goodbyes, but she felt at ease nonetheless. This was strange, she noted, as on any other occasion she would feel overwhelmed. Delphini boarded the train quickly, chin held high as ever, with nobody there to see her off in person. As she got on, she immediately sought out the first empty compartment that she could find and plopped down in the window seat. She took a second, watching other kids her age and older board the train with one another. Some laughed as only longtime friends did, while others made timid introductions to one another. Her eyes lingered briefly on a particularly loud compartment, and the shockingly red hair of one of the kids inside of it. Briefly, she wished for that level of carefree companionship, but brushed off the thought before it could take root and spoil her mood. She was anxious enough as it was. She then figured that there was no point in delaying the inevitable, and took out her well-loved copy of  _ Pride and Prejudice _ . The scrap of paper she had been using as a bookmark fell to the floor, but she let it fall as she quickly lost herself in her favorite story. She turned her wand over in her hand as she read, absently thinking of how comically oversized it looked held in her little fingers. As she read deeper she began to chuckle, somewhat fondly, as Darcy made a fool of himself by falling off of his horse. 

~~~

Elias wandered the train corridor looking for an empty compartment, which took a considerably long time due to the fact that every few seconds some screaming child ran into him or pushed passed him with the speed and ferocity of a raging bull. Each time making him jump slightly. He cursed under his breath as his suitcase was knocked out of his hand by a slightly shorter boy carrying a large trunk, following a parade of friends led by a girl with shockingly red hair. The boy turned around quickly when he realized what he had done and scrambled to apologize to Elias. His hair was a mousy brown and flopped over his eyes which matched his dark brown robes, those of which were covered in patches and a little too big. His face was littered with small scars, some new, some old, the most noticeable of which cut straight through his left eyebrow.  _ What an odd looking child _ he thought, but he smiled and dismissed him, the poor boy looked just as nervous and embarrassed as Elias felt. Eventually he gave up on finding an empty apartment and instead settled for one with an… eccentric looking young girl laughing wildly to herself while conjuring the image of a man falling off a horse,  _ I suppose sitting with one idiot is better than sitting with five.  _

“Do you mind if I sit here?” He spoke with a soft Highlander accent, “Everywhere else is full.” She simply nodded, so he closed the door behind him.

~~~

Remus and Sirius walked over to Scarlette’s trunk, picked it up, and marched to the train yelling, 

“Hut two three four, hut two three four!” James took her arm and they walked to the train. She began to step up onto it, but James rushed in front of her. 

“Allow me to assist the maiden, Pettigrew, come up!” Peter brushed past her and James took her by the arm and helped her onto the train. As they walked ceremoniously down the corridor, Scarlette was unable to keep herself from laughing, James keeping a straight face, and stopping occasionally to “help” her get past some obstacle or another. 

They saw Remus and Sirius stop in front of a full compartment. A girl with reddish-brown hair was sitting with a small boy who had deep raven hair. Sirius was teasing her, and the boy looked quite sour. James held Scarlette’s arm and broke the proceedings. 

“M’lady, would you like to join us in a compartment that doesn’t have live sauerkraut inhabiting it?” The girl shook her head at him. 

“Stop it all of you, Severus and I are having a lovely time, please just go away.”

Scarlette smiled at the girl, and lightly punched James.

“But Miss Evans….” James looked at Scarlette for backup.

“James let’s go, that isn’t nice.” Scarlette pulled him away while flashing an apologetic smile at Severus, and continued to stroll down the corridor. They stopped in front of an empty compartment and all settled into it. 

~~~

Engrossed in the world of witty heroines and the high society of Regency England, Delphini nearly jumped when a voice asked to join her. Looking up hurriedly, she saw a hazel-eyed boy standing in the doorway of the compartment. She began to weigh the list of pros and cons in her head, although she soon saw how ridiculous of an endeavor it was and allowed him in. In her surprise, she had still been giggling slightly at the image of Darcy falling off a horse when she had responded. After a moment she began to survey the boy, slightly emboldened by the fact that he had not immediately passed her by in favor of another compartment. They began to talk, slowly at first but quickly falling into deeper conversation.

Neither of them were natural conversationalists, and Delphini could tell that some of her more technical remarks went over the boy’s head, but she also found that she didn’t entirely mind. Where she usually felt frustration at the fact that people didn’t understand her, she now only felt glad for the company. 

She soon found out that the boy’s name was Elias, and figured that it would only be polite of her to get some sweets from the cart for both of them. As she approached the cart with her funds (a few of her own galleons and a few of Elias’s), a familiar looking red-haired girl ran past her in pursuit of a boy holding what Delphini presumed to be her wand. The boy then began holding the wand out of the red-haired girl’s reach, and Delphini absently assessed the height difference between them. Being rather good at measuring small distances, she guessed that there was about half a foot between them. The girl muttered a few words and the wand flew into her hand, at which Delphini raised her eyebrows. She was soon distracted by the process of ordering sweets, so much so that she physically jumped when the red-haired girl spoke to her.

“I love Jane Austen, how do you know her?” She questioned, seemingly attempting to be friendly.

Delphini blinked, her brain attempting to process that two strangers in one day had spoken to her and neither had asked her for directions. She glanced down at her obviously worn book, and then back up at the red-haired girl. 

“I read.” 

~~~

Scarlette was cramped between James and Remus, while Sirius and Peter took the opposite side. Before long, the sweets lady came over to them.

Scarlette pulled out her wand and money and asked the boys if they would want something. James says, 

“Here, mademoiselle, let me help you,” and he snatched her wand out of her grip. 

“JAMES” She yelled and took off after his fleeing form. She accidentally brushed up against the blonde girl while catching up with him. He held the wand up in the air so she had to jump to grab it. Unfortunately, all 4’0 of her doesn’t match his 4' 6. She mutters, “ _ expelliarmus _ ” and the wand flies to her. James tried to tackle her, but she scrambled away and began to order sweets. James sulked back to the compartment and she noticed that the blonde girl was reading  _ Pride and Prejudice, _ so she decided to try speaking to her. 

“I love Jane Austen, how do you know her?” 

“I read.” The blonde girl looked up. 

Scarlette thanked the sweets lady and rushed closer to the blonde girl. 

“She’s really such an amazing writer, may-” The blonde girl entered her compartment, and a tall boy stood up, poking his head out. 

“Hello, would you like to join us?” She almost said yes before James grabbed her arm and pulled her back into their compartment. 

~~~

Elias soon discovered the girl, Delphini, had a knack for saying things that he only understood the half of, although still, admittedly he enjoyed the company. It was unexpected to say the least and well… it was lovely. Perhaps it was really better than sitting alone. He looked over and saw the mousy boy sitting, watching the commotion from inside the compartment, Elias was feeling rather good about himself as he may have very well just made his first friend and decided to smile at the boy, who smiled back a wide and wild grin (clearly very glad that Elias didn’t currently despise him) before the compartment door was slammed closed by one of his other friends. 

~~~

  
  


The rest of the ride passed quickly. Elias got a rare Gellert Grindelwald card in his chocolate frog, and later they were both laughing as she transformed her Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans into small stick figures and made them dance along the tops of the seats. Delphini felt surprisingly good about how the day had gone. She had made a new friend, and had only botched one conversation on the whole trip. For the first time since leaving her house that morning, Delphini felt a little bit of her worry uncoil and she found herself smiling. 

~~~

Scarlette dealt with the stupid boy, James, by swiftly petrifying him until the group convinced her to let him alone. She opened her book and read for a little, occasionally being pulled into the conversation by the boys. Her thoughts occasionally drifted to Severus. His eyes sparkled with strange comprehension that the rest of her peers didn’t possess, and she was intrigued. James’ seeming hatred for the small boy was interesting, they were all first years, not quite knowing each other yet. Clearly hze had a curiosity with Evans, and that made her smile. The rest of the journey was loud and fun, the boys were hilarious and she looked over at the other compartment a couple of times to see dancing jelly beans and other shenanigans. 

~~~

Elias tried not to let the buzzing familiarity everyone around him seemed to have for each other irk him, but he couldn’t help question how they had done it.  _ They’ve all only just met, why on Earth are they acting like they’re known each other all their lives? They couldn’t have truly become such good friends so soon?  _ He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind, lest they begin to make him wonder what he was doing wrong. Instead he chose to dwell on the quaint simplicity of his and Delphini’s compartment, slow and uneventful, and exactly what he needed at the moment-- like a cup of chamomile on a cold morning. Elias looked out at the rolling countryside and missed his jagged mountains, but for the first time, as Delphini hummed something sweet he didn’t recognize, he couldn’t help but think that it might not be  _ so  _ terrible… 


	3. Across The Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long train ride they finally arrive at Hogwarts...

Elias finished changing into his robes and left the cramped train washroom, already children were once again crowding the corridors and clambering to get their trunks from the overhead compartments. He fought his way back to the compartment and knocked on the door to make sure Delphini had finished changing. They still had nearly five minutes before arriving in Hogsmeade Station and so he stared out the window. Dusk was falling and it would be dark soon, his stomach squirmed with anticipation. 

The sky was full of stars when they rolled into the station, he and Delphini were already standing in the hall, trunks and owl cage in hand, when the doors opened. The two jumped down onto the platform and were soon followed by the red haired girl and her posse of rascals. They saw where everybody was piling up their luggage to be brought to the school and deposited their own trunks as well. Down at the far front of the platform was a truly giant man, standing nearly triple the height of Elias, he was heavy set with a long dark scraggly beard which he kept tucked in his belt. One of the man’s hands, which were just about as large and round as trash can lids, clutched a very heavy looking wrought iron lamp, illuminating the gathering crowd. The red haired girl marched towards him proudly, with the four other boys, Elias, and Delphini, in tow. Some older students passed by, waving hello to the large man apparently named “Hagrid.” 

“Firs’ years wi’ me. All the rest of yer can go to the carr’ges.” Hagrid spoke in a deep warm voice veiled by a nearly incomprehensible west-country accent. He lead the gaggle of first-years down a small path through the thick woods, many of the children stumbling over rocks in the dark. Elias stared at the ground, stepping carefully as to not trip, occasionally glancing up and seeing two of the boys pulling the red-head’s long hair and attempting to step on her shoes. He very quickly decided that they were  _ not  _ his kind of people and he will happily remain with Delphini, thank you very much. 

~~~

Scarlette gazed up at Hagrid and he smiled up at her. James stood behind her and occasionally either pulled at her long hair or stood on the backs of her feet just to incite a reaction. When she finally had enough she looked at Sirius for help and he shoved James out of the way and stood behind her. When she had turned her attention back to Hagrid, Sirius began to tug at her hair and breathe on her neck. She moved over to stand next to the tall boy and Remus who were having a very nice conversation and listened in. The blonde girl leaned over to her and tried to restart a conversation, obviously feeling badly about what had transpired earlier. 

~~~

Delphini looked over at the red-haired girl, wincing internally as she remembered how stilted their earlier conversation had. She figured that she should at least try to repair the damage, and so she approached the red-haired girl. 

“Hey. I’m, um,” Delphini paused, considering running away into the woods and never speaking to anyone again. Still, she could hardly stop speaking now. 

“I’m sorry about before, I was a little distracted. Y’know, what with the train and all and, um. Yeah.” Delphini cringed even as she forced the words out around her own knotted-up vocal chords. Not the most eloquent apology she’d ever made, but she hoped the point was conveyed nonetheless. 

“That’s okay, I wasn’t in a position to respond, the boys are--as you have seen-- slightly obnoxious.” Delphini internally sighed in relief, as the red-haired girl smiled good-naturedly at her. Now feeling herself as being on safe ground, she decided that she should try to make another friend.

~~~

Elias turned to see the mousy-haired boy quickening his pace to walk beside him (it seemed he had been walking alone as well).

“Hi!” The boy smiled again.  _ He keeps smiling at me, _ Elias thought,  _ why on earth does he keep smiling at me? _

“Hello! Er… W-what's your name?” Elias knew it was a weak attempt at conversation but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was easier with Delphini, she asked the questions and then went on three-minute rants about something completely different, he wasn’t the one having to introduce a subject.

“Oh - Remus, Remus Lupin… and you?” He smiled again, and Elias had to admit, Remus had quite a nice smile. It was endearing and warm, but with something in his sharp angular face and the distant lamp casting a golden light on it, which made it not-quite sheepish. Elias couldn't describe it, he also realized he was staring.

“Sorry-er, I’m—“ He was cut off by Hagrid suddenly turning around and addressing the students as they all rounded a corner and the path opened up onto a small stony beach with seven or so lamp-lit boats resting on the shore. 

“Al’righ’ folks, no mo’e th’n ten er boat-“ Hagrid looked around, landing on Elias’ group in front of him, “-Seein’ as you seven are in th’ fron’ why don’ you join meh?” 

~~~

“Would Miss like to stay dry?” Scarlette rolled her eyes. 

“I’m perfectly capable of getting onto that boat, Mister Potter.” James took her hand and guided her onto his leg, after which she gave up and stepped into his knee, and into the boat. James scrambled after her and sat directly behind her. After them, Hagrid lifted Peter into the boat, Delphini stepped through the water and clambered onto the boat, still dry. Scarlette went to mention that oddity to James, but stopped when she saw an unbalanced Remus about to collapse into the water. The Taller One immediately reached out of the boat and brought him on, a sigh of relief from the crew. Sirius reached up and Hagrid swung him onto the boat. After about a minute of sloshing sounds, some small yelps, and finally, everyone had boarded their vessels. 

Scarlette surveyed the group of students before turning her attention back to Hagrid, who had produced a large black key and inserted it into the mast of their ship. Slowly, all of the boats began to glide over the smooth surface of the lake. Scarlette looked around at her companions. James was behind her, occasionally grasping her shoulders and moving to throw her off the boat. Sirius and Remus and The Tall One were speaking in the back of the boat, while Delphini, sitting opposite her, was putting her hand in the water, letting it separate into small waves. 

~~~

Delphini turned her attention to her surroundings, looking out over the vast lake. After a minute she reached over the side of the boat and allowed her fingers to trail in the water. She noted how peculiar the lake felt, as though there were restless beings present just below the surface. Before she could investigate further, she realized how close to the water she had leaned and hastily withdrew her arm from the water. 

~~~

“S-sorry,” Remus mumbled, blushing slightly with embarrassment as he sat down between Elias and a boy with shoulder-length raven hair (he looked familiar but Elias couldn't quite place him), “w-what did you say your name was?”

“Oh, yes, of course! I’m Elias Toren Rosier.” The long haired boy turned his head to look at them.

“Hold on, did you say ‘Rosier’?” The long haired boy said, his tone unreadable.

“Er— yes? W-who are you?”

“Sirius Black.”  _ Of course, that’s where I know him from;  _ In the Rosier Mansion, on the second floor of the library, hangs a large tapestry taking up most of a vast stone wall. The tapestry showed a sprawling rose-bush tangled with the faces of relatives, and in a far corner of distant cousins was sewn the name  _ Sirius Orion Black. _

“Ah, yes of course, I thought I recognized you,” Remus glanced back and forth between the two of them, Elias attempted to smile at Sirius, Sirius did not smile back. Elias turned his head away from the pair, staring into the dark deep waters, wracking his mind for something he could have done wrong, he didn’t understand it, he bit his tongue.

~~~

““In one minit, ya gon’ get th’ firs’ view of Hogwarts!” Hagrid called across the scattered boats. 

~~~

An indigo mist had settled around the boats as they turned around a bend. Scarlette looked at her surroundings and was momentarily speechless. James placed his hands on her shoulders again but forgot to let go after Hagrid made his announcement. The trees were all bathed in soft golden light, that she assumed came from the castle. The boats all emitted a blue light that bounced off the lake and was slightly reflected in the post-sunset purple sky. The boats had all finished their turn and James’ hands slipped off of Scarlette’s shoulders and Scarlette’s breath caught in her throat. 

The castle was huge. Bigger than any of the pictures or painted memories Scarlette had seen. The rest of the world had melted away. The windows were all emitting soft golden light, which was blue, green, golden, or red. There seemed like hundreds of silhouetted staircases that all had brilliant flames lighting them. There were eight large towers with spires, the darkest one had a flock of birds circling it. The purple sky attenuated the dark grey castle, which sat on a large hill. Behind, Scarlette imagined the darkening quidditch pitch and the mysterious forbidden forest. The large dining hall that her parents referred to as “the great hall” emitted the most light with its stained glass windows. The staircase that would lead them to the hall was long, and the fires cast long shadows on the rocky terrain surrounding the stairs. 

~~~

Elias looked up from the water just in time to see a tall black tower appear behind the trees. They rounded a corner and the full castle came into view, it seemed to radiate golden light like a Christmas tree, and the same light danced in colorful figures on the water, as if the water itself was molten gold. The building itself was incredibly large, perched on a stone outcropping which curled itself over the lake forming pitch black caves with jagged ceilings before sloping down to a large beach lined by thick forests and soft grassy fields. Behind the castle in the distance, tall, strong, snow capped mountains sat watching over the valley like giants around a fire, and above them the moon was so bright you would have been able to find your way without a lantern. He dipped his hand into the lake, looking at the reflections of the many windows speckled with colored glass and jewels breaking apart between his fingers, the water was ice cold, it was perfect.

~~~

It was massive, warm and inviting. Light poured from what seemed like millions of little windows, each containing its own vignette of life. Delphini felt, all at once, the overwhelming desire to learn about the castle. To read everything she could find about it, to lose herself in this enthralling world that was now close enough to touch. The air itself seemed to be alight with magic, so thick and so layered that Delphini could almost feel it in her lungs as she breathed. Absently she registered some snatch of conversation between Scarlette and Hagrid, but she could not tear her focus from the source of the soft golden light that now reflected from the stunned faces in the boat around her. The boat stopped, and only then did Delphini snap out of her awed state. One of The Boys, the one who had assisted Scarlette earlier, climbed off first with Scarlette close behind him. Delphini lowered herself into the water, her mind barely perceiving the fact that her legs and the hem of her skirt should reasonably have been soaked through. Instead, she focused mainly on the tremendous castle towering above her as Elias and the remaining Boys clambered off, still in a state of silent amazement. 

~~~

The boats stopped a few feet away from the shore. They were inside a dark cave with a small beach on the inside, lined with torches on both sides, at the end of the cave was a staircase leading up to a large set of doors, which were already open, and led to another set of stairs which disappeared up into the castle. Silently, James got off the boat first, too absorbed to assist Scarlette. Scarlette hopped off next and walked over to stand next to James. Scarlette heard Delphini lower herself off the boat and stand in the water, taking in the magnificent sight that was Hogwarts. Elias Rosier got off fourth, too mesmerized by the sight to utter a single remark, she could tell because he wasn’t rash about getting off, he gently hit the water, barely making a sound. Sirius and Remus followed, walking to the group together. Finally, Peter and Hagrid made their exit, and the other students gathered on the shore. Delphini walked next to Scarlette and stood there looking up. 

“It still ge’s me. Ev’ry time I see it. Just magical, really.” Scarlette looked up at the man and smiled. 

“Are we allowed to come out here and look at it like this in the evenings?”

“Yeh hooligans should be in yer beds by nine o’clock ev’ry nigh.” Scarlette giggled and Elias Roiser pointed up to the top of the stairs. 

~~~

Elias stepped off the boat and paused for a moment before holding out his hand to Remus to help him Sirius by his side, Remus gave a small nervous laugh but took his hand and stepped onto the shore. 

“Common’ Remus,” Sirius said, sounding slightly annoyed and nodding towards the rest of the group, who were already a few paces ahead. He smiled at Elias one last time before running to catch up with the rest. He thought about going and joining them—  _ no. He clearly doesn’t want you to be with them. Don’t make this any worse than you already have.  _ Elias lowered his head and watched his feet as they kept a steady pace, slightly slower than the one the rest of the group was keeping.  _ Crunch,  _ beat,  _ crunch,  _ beat,  _ crunch,  _ he focused on the even sound of his footsteps like a metronome.  _ It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re fine…. crunch,  _ beat,  _ crunch,  _ beat,  _ crunch… it’s going to be fine.  _

“Welcome, one and all to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Elias looked up to see a witch with dark robes and spectacles addressing them from the top of the staircase, “My name is Professor McGonagall. I am the transfiguration teacher here, as well as head of Gryffindor house.” She had a stern face, and dark brown hair and she spoke with a Scottish accent. Elias had to stop himself from chuckling slighting as she reminded him severely of his mother. 

~~~

“The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Delphini processed all of this as Professor McGonagall turned away and walked up the stairs. She exhaled, the tension in her shoulders lessening further. From behind her, Scarlette spoke.

“James, I swear on my mother, I will obliterate you.” Delphini chuckled at this remark, and silently catalogued that the boy was named James. 

“You’re 4’2, Scarlette.” Delphini said, fondly. At this, Scarlette swivelled rapidly to face her. 

“No. I’m 4’5.” Delphini laughed louder that time, feeling strangely at ease. The boy, James, began laughing with her.

“Okay.” 


	4. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sorting Ceremony begins...

Elias separated himself from the group slightly, just to get out from the center of the crowd, and stood against the marble banister. Leaning over ever so slightly, he looked up and was able to see what must have been nearly one hundred staircases stretching up and up and up, one of them occasionally rotating from side to side. The walls were decorated with large tapestries and paintings, the subjects of which would move between frames, and tall stone sculptures and suits of armor dotted each floor. Everything was illuminated by a constantly shifting golden firelight, the castle itself was alive. He looked around and saw Delphini just a few feet from him, he gently tugged on the arm of her robes and she quickly turned to look at him.

“Delphini! Look at this! That staircase is moving!” He pulled her over to the banister and pointed up at the staircases above. Everything was so warm and kind, he had never been so in awe of the simple feeling of a building before.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, “My father told me about this! He also told me that there’s a staircase behind a tapestry with a missing step disguised as a normal step and you have to jump over it or you’ll get stuck, and the ones leading to girls dormitories turn into a slide if boys try to climb up them, and there’s another that will make piano noises!” Elias thought while those things were fantastical in and of themselves, they were also severely inconvenient. 

“Huh, my parents went to Hogwarts, but they never spoke about it much, they just said that I would go there…. um, Delphini-“

“Hm?”

“You’ve got a twig in your hair…” She ran her fingers through her hair and a small brown twig fell out into her palm, she stared at it for a few seconds, seemingly utterly perturbed as to where it could have come from.

“Is there anything else?” She bowed her head for him to see.

“Er… I can’t tell, here,” he pointed his wand at the part in her hair, “ _scourgify,_ ” her hair immediately became shiny, as if it was just thoroughly washed, “there, you should be alright now.” 

At that moment the great doors opened and Professor McGonagall stepped into the hall.

~~~

Scarlette took in the castle. Remus looked over at her and said, 

“I know we’ve already met, but I’d like to introduce myself a second time.” Scarlette smiled at the boy. 

“Ah, yes, continue!” 

“I’m Remus Lupin, I love reading and can turn a bird into a book. I think you and I will get along quite well!” Scarlette laughed and linked her arm through his, 

“I’d like to agree!” They both laughed and Peter walked over. 

“So you’re a Hemmingway?” Scarlette looked at the boy in mock surprise. 

“He speaks!” 

“I didn’t used to…” Peter shrugged with a smile. Remus quickly changed topic, saying 

“So what subject d’you think you’ll enjoy the most?” 

Scarlette thought for a moment. 

“Oh definitely charms, I’m very excited to learn some new ones, I’ve learned a bunch at home.” Remus untangled himself from Scarlette quickly when Professor McGonagall returned. 

A quiet fell over the students as the professor spoke again.

~~~

“Line up, single file, and await your sorting.” Everyone scrambled into a line and began to walk forward, once again, a death march to a dining hall, _but at least,_ Elias thought, _this time I’m not alone._ He glanced at Delphini, standing beside him, she was positively beaming as they walked through the doors, and looking around he couldn’t help but smile too. The hall looked like a beautiful cathedral, decoratively carved walls with tall, dark inset windows. Tapestries showing the four house emblems hung from the ceiling, a ceiling which disappeared into a vast starry sky; just below, candles floated in midair illuminating the entire hall. In the apse sat a long high table, where all the professors sat, watching over the other tables filled with students who eyed the newcomers with anticipation and interest. When they reached the other end of the hall, Elias saw that sitting on a small platform was a stool with an old worn hat.

~~~

Green, red, blue and yellow. Scarlette understood those to be Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Her parents had described the houses in exquisite detail, and always suggested that Gryffindor was her house. She didn’t quite know what her house was, but if her parents thought it was Gryffindor, then it must be! As they continued walking she caught the sight of a blonde tall boy, staring at her quite intensely, sat at the Slytherin table. When she caught his gaze, he did not shy away, so she turned the other way. 

~~~

Delphini looked around in awe, before her eyes landed on the front of the room. There was another banquet table, different to the ones that the students occupied, filled with staff and faculty and headed by a kind-looking man with silver hair. Students from all the tables, which Delphini assumed to be sorted by house, looked at the first years expectantly as they filed into the hall. The room began to quiet as the last of the students passed the heavy doors and they were shut with an echoed _thud_.

Seemingly pleased with how the first years had organized themselves, McGonagall strode forwards until she stood beside the hat on the stool. The room was ghost-quiet at this point, and her footsteps echoed loudly around the vaulted space of the Great Hall. She looked out over the students and spoke with her clipped Scottish accent.

“The hat would like to serenade the new students.” Delphini had only a moment in which to feel confused, as the hat suddenly burst to life. 

~~~

They all crowded around the stairs, waiting to be called. Sirius was the closest to the front, and he looked slightly green. The hat suddenly twitched, and among its dusty folds of fabric came a mouth. The older students were not perturbed in any way, while Scarlette gasped, and Remus put a reassuring hand on her arm. She clutched at her necklace anxiously. The hat then did something decidedly un-hat like. It sang. 

~~~

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap_!

~~~

The entire hall of a thousand students or more begin clapping and cheering, Gryffindor being the most enthusiastic. After everyone calmed down, McGonagall stepped forward and called a series of students up. They were all made to sit on the stool and the hat would think for a minute (if that’s what it really did, no one knows for sure) and would blurt out one of the four houses. The selected house would rise up and almost swallow the student with cheers and welcomes.

It was finally Sirius’ turn and Scarlette could see him shaking. Remus leaned over and whispered, 

“He doesn’t want to be put into Slytherin. His entire family were chosen for that house, and none of them are the right sort…” Scarlette looked up at the poor boy, who had now taken his place on the stool. He sat there, while the hat deliberated, shaking and seemingly praying. Finally the sorting hat opened its mouth and proclaimed, 

“GRYFFINDOR” Scarlette couldn’t hear her own thoughts, even Remus had screamed for his friend, and her eardrums nearly split. 

~~~

The next up was a short boy with blonde-ish hair and broad shoulders, by the name of Dirk Cresswell. He was quickly sorted into Hufflepuff, and he slid off the stool and strode over to the Hufflepuff table. Another boy went up, Bartemieus. He was sorted into Slytherin. Another Gryffindor after him, a ginger girl named Lily. Davey Gudgeon was the next to be called, and he was a Hufflepuff as well. 

Delphini looked around the tables, deciding that the raucous Gryffindors intimidated her. She also wasn’t fond of the green table, which regarded the first years with a mix of keen-eyed observation and careful appraisal. Delphini felt dissected under their gaze, and turned her attention to the blue table. Looking among the faces she saw that they seemed somewhat disinterested in the first-years, and many looked as though they would much rather be somewhere else. Lastly her gaze landed on the yellow table, from which one of the older students saw her looking over and shot her a reassuring smile. 

~~~

Next was a boy who had fair hair, a long face and was quite handsome. His name was Bartimus Crouch Jr. His father, Scarlette had heard, was a fearsome auror. He was sorted into slytherin, and before he took his place he scanned the other newcomers and his sight landed on Scarlette. She would never forget the piercing look that boy gave her. It was haunting. His dark iris’ shone with determination, and something far darker which she wouldn’t place until her fourth year. 

The girl from the train, Lily Evans, was called next, and quickly sorted into Gryffindor. A couple more children went, and it was almost Scarlette's turn. Her breath quickened as a boy called Davey Gudgeon was sorted into Hufflepuff. Remus gave her an encouraging squeeze, before pushing her forward. She walked up to the stool and felt the entire hall’s eyes on her. She felt tiny and scrutinized. Many of the faces weren’t discouraging, as a matter of fact, a lot of them were staring at her either dazedly or admiringly. She had a burst of courage and sat down, as McGonagall plopped the hat onto her head. Immediately a voice echoed in her head, and the hall vanished from her mind.

_Ah, Ms Scarlette Hemmingway. I remember your father. He was a proud Gryffindor, but that isn’t the impression you give me._

“Oh, no? Why?” She thought, confused. The hat sensed her confusion. 

_You seem like a very ambitious character._

“I am.”

_Exactly. I feel you are very goal driven, even if friendship and loyalty are priorities._

“They are, I lov-” 

_Ms Hemmingway. There is a light inside you that I do not feel with others. What is your preference?_

“I’d be satisfied anywhere.”

_That I doubt Ms Hemmingway, appeasing me won’t do much. I’m only some fabric stitched together._ Scarlette smiled. 

“I know that. But I will trust your judgement.”

_Yes, I can see that you believe in me. Your parents had told you Gryffindor, without knowing your darker side. I think… yes…_

“SLYTHERIN!” 

The Slytherin table nearly burst with excitement. It felt as if many minutes had passed but it seemed barely any time had elapsed. Scarlette looked over at James, Lupin, and Sirius’ faces. They all looked shocked. She smiled at them and shrugged, and was pulled into Slytherin’s crowd very quickly. The blonde boy and Crouch navigated her towards their side, and sandwiched her in between them. They both formally introduced themselves. 

“I’m Lucius Malfoy,” said the blonde, “Who’re you?” She looked up at both of them. 

“Scarlette Hemmingway, pleasure!” They smiled at her, and she noticed that Crouch Jr’s eyes sparkled in a mysterious way, and Scarlette made a note to herself to try and avoid him. Something about him didn’t ring right with her instincts. A boy named Gildroy Lockhart was sorted into Ravenclaw. Then, Remus went up and sat on the stool. While they waited, Sirius looked over at Scar, and motioned that he needed to talk to her. She nodded and mouthed, _after_. He nodded and smiled. She smiled back, and then heard a soft whisper from Lucius. 

“ _Focus_ ” She jumped slightly and looked back to the sorting. The hat shouted, 

“GRYFFINDOR!” Remus smiled and joined Sirius. Scarlette felt a pit form in her stomach. What if she was stuck with Crouch and Malfoy? They were terrifying. A few more children were sorted and then Peter stood at the stool. She grimaced. If she was stuck with Pettigrew she’d throw herself off the tallest spire. Thankfully the hat chose Gryffindor as well. The knot tightened in her stomach. Malfoy tried to scooch closer, and she accidentally slid into Crouch. She mumbled “sorry” and returned her gaze to the platform. Some others were sorted and it was Delphini’s turn. Scarlette couldn’t help but pray that she would join her.

~~~

The red-haired girl had been sitting there for nearly a minute when the hat shouted “SLYTHERIN!” He saw her friend's faces fall as she marched over to the Slytherin table, sitting beside the Crouch boy and an older student with white-blonde hair. Several more students went up and it was Remus’ turn, Elias silently hoped that the boy would be placed in Slytherin, but it was only seconds before — “GRYFFINDOR!” The deafening cheers from the Gryffindor table were almost too much, added with the fact that they were nearing the end of the alphabet rather quickly, Elias felt his knees begin to shake, and he was begging himself to not collapse. He began counting beats again, trying to drown out the voices until—

“Delphini Piscus!” _Oh please,_ _please_ _be Slytherin, please—_

~~~

Delphini jumped when her name was called, before making her way to the front. Her heart pounded as she sat down on the stool and the weight of the hat settled on her head. She felt her stomach sink as the hat made a pensive noise. 

_Very intelligent, I see. Ravenclaw would not be amiss for you,_ it said, though not out loud. Delphini wondered if she could speak to the hat. The hat chuckled at this, and Delphini registered that the silence was beginning to draw on for the rest of the students. 

_You wish to be kind. I see great goodness in you, the capacity for extraordinary love. You are selfless, loyal. Yes, yes indeed. I think I see now._ Delphini wondered what that meant. A bit vague, for a hat that could see everything about her. The hat in question deliberated some more, and Delphini was now acutely aware that several minutes had passed. Not as long as Peter had taken, but many students were already trading inquizitory glances. 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat announced, and the yellow table burst into applause. Delphini felt a smile spread over her face as she walked over to the table, where several students were already waiting to welcome her. After many smiles and many _Thank you_ ’s, the Hufflepuff students around her returned to watching the other first years get sorted. 

~~~

“HUFFLEPUFF!” Delphini went, and Scarlette guiltily thought, _at least I'm not the only lonely individual._ Some more kids passed and it was James’ turn. Scarlette thought she would be sick. Crouch looked at the small, shaking, pale girl and nudged Malfoy. He looked at her and saw where her gaze was directed.   
“You can’t possibly be worried about a _Potter_ can you?” Scarlette pretended not to hear him. She looked away from the sorting and was about to politely ask Malfoy to shut him pompous ignorant mouth, but was stopped when the hat called, 

“GRYFFINDOR” Scarlette’s knot became unbearable, and she turned back around with tears in her eyes. More kids went by, as Crouch whispered, 

“You aren’t pretty when you cry, Scar.” She elbowed him accidentally, and looked up to see Elias walking over to the sorting hat, looking every bit as nervous as Scarlette felt. 

  
  


~~~

“HUFFLEPUFF” Elias felt like there was a pit in his stomach he couldn't stand this, the one friend he made was in Hufflepuff, and if he knew anything it was that he was not a Hufflepuff. He was nauseous and his head was swimming when he suddenly heard “Elias Rosier!”

Walking up the steps of the platform was bad enough, but when he turned around, everyone’s eyes were on him and the hall was silent. Elias felt like the room was closing in on him and he wanted nothing more than to run out of the hall and forget it all. He saw Sirius whisper to one of his friends and he willed himself not to cry as the hat slipped over his eyes, and everything went black. 

_Hmmmm,_ he heard a deep voice in the center of his head, _a Rosier… I must say I know exactly where I_ _should_ _put you, but what a funny little head you have… and I’m not so sure…_

“You think I should be in Slytherin?”

The voice laughed quietly _, Why, yes and no… I_ _know_ _you should be in Slytherin._

“But you don’t think so.”

_Precisely… see how clever you are, ambitious too, so many interests…_

_“_ Although?”

 _Although…_ the voice paused for a moment, _I am the only one who knows every head that passes through those doors… those halls and classrooms are mine because I know who walks them… I have read the minds of the most wicked witch and the most wonderful wizard…_ Elias could feel it, the spell, the spirit, whatever it was, it was in his mind, scrambling through memory after memory, some of which he had forgotten. He gripped the edge of the stool’s seat, suddenly becoming aware that the hall was still deathly silent.

“And?!” He was growing more anxious by the minute.

 _And…_ the voice chuckled again… _not one Slytherin has passed through those doors that I couldn’t spot a mile away. You are clever, yes, ambitious, yes, but so loyal, you would be brave enough to throw yourself into a fire if it were to save a friend… I’ll admit, you would thrive in any house I chose to put you…_

“But I don’t want any house! I wa-“

 _You want to be told where to go… yes I know… hmmm… so many memories…_ It seemed to be unearthing moment after moment of his life looking for some sign or clue and-

“No— stop! N-not that one...” 

All amusement in the voice was gone, replaced by a strange sounding sadness. 

_Such a funny little head...and perhaps you truly should… yes… yes of course._ There was a pause, the silence deafening, _Good luck Elias…_

“SLYTHERIN!”

The hat was lifted off his head and he felt like he was floating, he couldn’t hear the cheers, just the pounding of his own heart. The Sorting Ceremony was supposed to be happy, it was where you met your first true friends, where you experience the first wonders of Hogwarts, but that, _that_ , was… horrible. He felt sick in a different way… all the things he didn’t want to remember now sat at the front of his mind and watched him like vultures, just waiting for him to fall. 

~~~

Delphini’s heart sank, watching as her only friend sat down across from Scarlette at the Slytherin table. She turned to look at the Gryffindor boys, noticing as Sirius was handed a single galleon by James. After Elias, two more Slytherins were sorted. One of the Slytherins was named Severus, and Delphini chuckled to herself at the alliteration. A few moments later, a voice addressed her from across the table. 

“I’m Dirk, what’s your name?” He was looking at Delphini, though it took her a few moments to realize that he was talking to her. 

“Oh! Oh, um, I’m Delphini. Piscus. My name’s Delphini Piscus.” She winced internally, heat rising to her cheeks. Dirk chuckled warmly. He was short, with deep brown eyes and an easy smile. He seemed confident and sure of himself, and Delphini wondered why he hadn’t been put in Gryffindor. 

“So, where’re you from?” Dirk asked, and Delphini felt relieved at the chance to brush past the trainwreck that had been her introduction. 

“I’m from London, how about you?” She asked. Delphini looked up briefly as another kid was sorted, this time into Ravenclaw. She then returned her focus to the conversation. 

“I’m from the Isles, lived there all my life,” Dirk paused briefly, before continuing. “All this magic everywhere, it’s wild. I’ve never _seen_ so much of it in one place!”

Delphini smiled, letting the conversation continue. There were some awkward moments and it wasn’t quite natural yet, but Dirk was genuinely pleasant and was more than happy to pick up where she fell short. They were an unlikely pair, with Dirk having expressed a love of football that made Delphini sure he’d try out for the quidditch team, but she appreciated the company regardless. Some time later, the last of the first years walked to their respective tables and the headmaster stood at the front of the hall. 

~~~

“SLYTHERIN!” The knot disappeared for a moment as Elias made his way toward the table. Sirius extended his hand for James to give him a gold coin.

“A Rosier! Join us, I’m Lucius Malfoy, this is Barty Crouch Jr, and this is Scarlette Hemmingway.” Elias didn’t look at them, and instead cocked his head at Scarlette. 

“Can I join you?” Scarlette looked at him gratefully. Malfoy shot the boy a glare for not asking him, but Elias ignored him as Scarlette made Crouch move. Elias sat between Malfoy and Scarlette. Scarlette looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Remus eyeing her wearily and Siruis clutching his hair in mock frustration. Other children were sorted, and Severus stood up and was sorted into slytherin. Scarlette motioned for him to sit across from them with an encouraging smile, and he complied. He sat across from them and she made the proper introductions. More students went, along with a girl named Lucinda Talkalot, who joined their table merrily but was quickly shut up by one particularly scary fifth year. A man with a long brown beard stood up, introducing himself as Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster. He told them words that Scarlette wouldn’t forget until her dying day. Simply, 

“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to begin with a word of wisdom: Fizzlewizbit!” 

~~~

This line elicited several laughs and fond eyerolls from the students, and suddenly the long tables were laden with food. Delphini blinked rapidly, but soon began serving herself a plate. She chuckled as Dirk began throwing morsels of food into the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. She glanced over at where Elias was sitting, her smile falling as she did. However, she was soon distracted as Dirk began talking passionately about potions. She resolved to herself that it would be alright, and as Dirk rambled on she found herself inclined to believe that promise. 

~~~

“May I join you?” Elias asked Scarlette, and she gave him a strange look, like an abandoned puppy pleading with a stranger for help. He sat down quickly, nearly shoving Malfoy aside to sit next to Scarlette. 

“Are you alright?” He said to her under his breath, “these two seem… odd.”’

“I’m alright, thanks for sitting with me.” She smiled, warm and grateful, it made him begin to feel a little better. The rest of the children were sorted, and Elias and Scarlette were joined by a dark-haired boy with a long sharp nose named Severus. Elias couldn't help but see how, across the hall, Sirius kept glancing over at the two of them, although the expression on his face he couldn’t quite pin. It seemed to be some cross between worried, angry, and jealous, and the heat of his stare made Elias shift in his seat. 

Soon the headmaster, Dumbledore, stood up to address the students. He was a tall wizard with a greying auburn beard, sparkling blue eyes, and a pair of half-moon spectacles perched on a crooked nose. He gave a short yet… interesting speech and when he was finished he raised his arms towards the tables which were suddenly filled with every food one could possibly imagine (Elias immediately reached for two meat pies and a large baked potato which he split open and filled with beans, cheese, roasted vegetables, and sour cream). He and Scarlette spoke for the entirety of the meal, and it was clear she was making a conscious effort to cut off Malfoy anytime he tried to join. Elias admitted he had been wrong about her, she was much less annoying than he had originally given her credit for, in fact she was quite sweet. Although it was slightly more difficult to make conversation with her than it was with Delphini, he supposed it was good practice. The feast seemed to pass quickly and soon students and teachers began to lean back from their plates with satisfied faces, the plates were magically cleared away and McGonagall rose once more. 

“All first years follow your heads of houses, heads please stand, to your dormitories. Bedtime is nine, meaning all of you must stay in your common rooms until the morning after that time.” A tall seventh year boy with dark hair stood up at the other end of the table and motioned for all of them to follow him. When they got up from their seats Malfoy tried to push past Elias to get to Scarlette. 

“Bugger off’— leave her be!” Elias spat at Malfoy and made a very calculated twist of his arm (which he would always say was an accident), elbowing the hard in the stomach before linking arms with Scarlette and walking with her to the front of the group. 

~~~

Lucius glared at him, but didn’t say anything. James nearly broke his leg as he scurried over to Scarlette. 

“Hiya, can we talk tomorrow?” Scarlette was relieved that he didn’t change his opinion of her even if they were in different houses. 

“Yes, of course!” He smiled and went in for a hug, but quickly thought better of it. “See ya.” Lucius watched the boy’s retreating form and smirked. Scarlette began to follow a tall dark haired boy who was head of house. Elias walked next to her protectively and she was as excited as ever to begin her years at Hogwarts. 


	5. Deep Waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two Slytherins and a Hufflepuff try to breath easy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW!!!! -- this chapter contains minor harassment done by a male character to a female character (not sexual, not violent, but somewhat threatening, does not result in any direct harm to the female character). If this is triggering for you, a brief, nondescript summary of the section will be in the notes at the end of the chapter (this will be the same for all chapters containing a content warning). The section of the chapter which concerns this cw will be marked at the beginning of it with this *!!* so you know to skip ahead. Safe reading everyone! <3

The group of Hufflepuffs began to walk out of the hall and many of the students began to clump together. Delphini felt herself being dragged along, and looked up to see Dirk holding her hand as he joined the chain of students that was rapidly forming. Her heart began to hammer harder inside her chest as she grabbed the hand of the first year behind her. She watched in awe as the boy took it in stride, smiling at her and continuing the chain behind him. She allowed herself for a moment to be swept along, as if those around her were her closest friends. As she raced down the stairs towards the kitchens, she saw a large group of Slytherins and picked out Elias among them. She smiled at him, before being pulled along again by the chain. 

The students continued towards the kitchens, down a brief set of stairs and over to a group of barrels. The chain broke up as it stopped, but Delphini stuck close to Dirk and the boy who had been behind her. She’d heard about the common room entrances and how each one was unique, and she moved in closer as the head girl turned around to face the group of students. She was tall, with straight, dark hair , tan skin, and a kind smile. Delphini immediately wanted to trust her. 

“This is the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.” The head girl gestured to the wall behind her. There was a small space at the bottom of the stairs, on the far wall of which was a large, round wooden door. The girl stepped up to the door, and tapped out a very particular rhythm. The door then swung open, releasing a wave of warm air from inside the common room over the waiting Hufflepuffs. 

“That rhythm is the name of our house founder, Helga Hufflepuff. All first years should practice on the inside of the door as they walk by, to make sure they have it. Any questions?” The Hufflepuffs glanced around at one another, but nobody spoke. Delphini had ended up at the front with Dirk. 

“Alright. In you go, then.” The head girl said with an air of motherly fondness. Delphini decided that she liked this girl, and nodded gently at her as she walked by and tapped the rhythm out on the door. 

The common room was warm and inviting, with a low ceiling and a big hearth. There were high porthole windows on the far side of the room, with comfortable armchairs scattered about. A large, overstuffed sofa with a patchwork quilt spread over it sat before the fire. Plants blossomed on various surfaces around the room, and several large volumes rested beside the chairs and sofas. There were barrels in the far wall, and several more books and plants rested on the low coffee tables around the space. Delphini grinned as she walked in, feeling overwhelmingly comforted. She had never been a fan of big changes, mainly due to how nice everything was as she had been growing up. She had no reason to want for any change, and in fact she ardently avoided it when she could. Delphini was peculiar in that way, she was highly adaptable but often did everything she could to avoid adapting. Still, as she looked around the cozy common room, she felt as though she could learn to live like this.

~~~

Elias felt himself being pulled to the center of Slytherins leaving the Great Hall by Scarlette, who had her arm hooked around his. He felt quite smothered by the mass of students which seemed to all be moving like one collective organism, compressed and dilliagent on arriving at their destination. One of her friends (Elias believed his name was James, or maybe Jack, he had not paid much attention during the sorting) managed to push through to them and spoke briefly with Scarlette. As he was making his way back to the Gryffindors, he shot a dark look at Elias, which Elias pretended not to notice. He saw James run back to where Sirius and Remus were standing and shake his head. Sirius looked up with a frown and the two briefly made eye contact before Elias quickly looked away.  _ They’re talking about you. You did something wrong. You did something wrong but you’re too stupid to _ ー

Elias looked up as Scarlette stumbled over herself, almost falling flat on the floor, She turned around and he saw her eyes widen, then she began walking slightly faster. He turned around to see who she looked at, and was greeted with the smirking faces of Malfoy and Crouch, they had been stepping on the backs of her shoes. Now, if there was one thing he hated, it was people being childish, and if there was one thing he was good at, it was  _ listening. _

“So. A Malfoy and a Crouch, hm?” There was something about her, he felt the need to defend her like a wolf protecting a member of his pack, although there was something else, he felt a broiling anger deep inside him, a small dragon waiting for it’s egg to break open; it had been sitting in his stomach for a long time, but an old grey vulture had just flown down, and with a tap of his beak, it cracked.

“Yes, what of it?” Malfoy answered haughtily.

“Well, Junior,” Elias said, ignoring Malfoy and turning to Crouch, “my father works at the Ministry, you know, and I’ve overheard him talking about some of the… questionable methods your father uses to get confessions out of even the most mundane of the criminal classes. I could only imagine, with all the talk of Crouch Sr. possibly becoming the Minister, how — let’s say — unnerving it would be if such methods were put under investigation… wouldn’t you agree?” Many who worked in the Ministry knew how Barty Crouch Sr treated, or rather mis-treated those he arrested, even being known to use an unforgivable curse on those refusing to admit to certain crimes. Although, he was so close to becoming Minister, so no one dared say a word, instead they mumbled about him in corners and waited patiently for him outside of interrogation rooms. Crouch Jr. frowned, looking Elias up and down as if assessing an opponent, but remained silent. Elias couldn’t help but smile at the look on Crouch’s face before turning to Lucius. 

“And you Malfoy? What do you think of Crouch Sr? Say, didn’t  _ your  _ father have a bit of trouble with a Minister a little while back? Pray tell, what is your opinion on Nobby Leach?” Another thing one would know if they were in the high rankings of the ministry, is that Nobby Leach, the first muggle-born Minister of Magic who left his position prematurely, did not leave his Minister’s seat without unwanted aid. Although, one thing you would only know if you were both in the highest ring of the ministry and a member of an old pure-blood family, is that the mysterious illness which caused Leach to resign, was in fact part of a plot devised by one Abraxas Malfoy.

Lucius glared at Elias with fire in his eyes before dragging Crouch away with him to the front of the crowd. Only then did Elias release a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, he felt nauseous again. He hated being that angry, but sometimes it was like he was a bottle of champagne that everyone around him kept shaking and shaking and shaking and eventuallyー boom. Either way, he would tell himself it wasn’t his fault.

Scarlette tugged on the sleeve of his robes and they caught up with the rest of the Slytherins. A large group of Hufflepuffs passed by them, some racing each other down the stairs while holding hands with each other in a long chain. Several Slytherins rolled their eyes as the ‘puffs passed, but Elias caught a glimpse of Delphini in the crowd, she waved and smiled at him and he waved back, earning some confused looks from his fellow house members. 

The large group marched down a long torch-lit hall lined with black stone columns, it reminded Eias of the one time he was able to visit the ministry with his father. Eventually the head boy stopped at an expansive blank wall (although Elias did notice, that unlike the rest of the hall, two stone snakes curled around the top of the two columns on either side of the wall), and reminded them of the curfew before stating that the passcode for the door was “tapaidh.” Elias chuckled to himself, _ “tapaidh,” smart, but a bit obvious _ . 

~~~

“Remember what McGonagall said, don’t leave the common room after nine, and if you do,” the head boy eyed Malfoy, “don’t get caught.” He cleared his throat and continued, “The password for this term is, ‘tapaidh.’”

“That’s ‘clever’ in Scottish Gaelic.” Elias whispered, and Scarlette smiled up at him. 

“Ooo, how clever.” She said, wiggling her eyebrows sarcastically and making them both giggle. The stone slab broke away and revealed a silver-emerald common room. 

Scarlette fell in love with it at first sight. There were green couches and large chairs near a big silver fireplace with a warm flame emanating from the depths. In the corners of the oddly shaped room stood desks and small lights with green covers. The chairs matched the dark oak of the desks with green cushions. 

There were shelves for borrowed library books, and many small snake emblems on the walls and furniture. She saw two black spiralling staircases leading down to dormitories. The head boy walked inside and said curtly, 

“The left staircase is the girls’ the right is the boys’. You have until 9:00, it is 8:30 now. Go and unpack upstairs. If you need me just mention Colin to a mate.” They all nodded. Scarlette turned to Elias. 

“I guess I’ll go unpack, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Elias nodded.

“Of course! Goodnight!” He said warm heartedly. 

They separated and she noticed that the common room had emptied rather quickly, except for Crouch and Malfoy. They lounged on a couch. Malfoy made to stand, but Scarlette scurried away quickly. 

~~~

There was a roaring fireplace at the center of the common room, although it must have been charmed somehow, as it burned a bright white instead of red. Tall gothic windows stretched the height of the wall, although instead of seeing grassy fields or forests, Elias could see lake creatures of many different varieties swim past in the dark murky water. The room was furnished with long green leather couches and dark oak tables, the walls neatly ornamented with framed portraits and emblems made from twisted metal. Atop the mantlepiece was a skull in a glass box, there was a small golden plaque below it, although Elias could not read what it said. Tall stone pillars lined the room and supported the large domed ceiling, coffered and decorated with inset carvings of many different types of sea creatures interwoven with vine-like seaweed. A large wrought iron chandelier hung from the top of the domb, pulling even the darkest corners of the room out of shadow. 

“The left staircase is the girls’ the right is the boys’. You have until 9:00, it is 8:30 now. Go and unpack upstairs. If you need me just mention ‘Colin’ to a mate.” The head boy,  _ Colin, apparently,  _ said and Scarlette turned to him,

“I guess I’ll go unpack, I’ll see you tomorrow?” She spoke with a smile.

“Of course! Goodnight!” He smiled back, he was turning out to like her very much. She had an odd air about her, so genuinely kind, almost too kind.

~~~

As Scarlette walked up the stairs she felt two pairs of eyes burn into her back, and felt relieved when she reached a small hallway. There were seven doors, she assumed they were for each year, but before she got to see, a dark haired girl stepped out of one. She was very beautiful, and looked as pure-blooded as one could. She saw the small girl standing there and rushed to her. 

“Hello, are you a first year?” Scarlette nodded. “I’m Narsissa Lestrange, welcome to Slytherin.” She was smiling, but her eyes didn’t sparkle. 

“I’m Scarlette Hemmingway, it’s nice to meet you-” Narsissa brushed past her, and as she swept up the staircase she said, 

“Your dorm is all the way on the back right.” Then she was gone. Scarlette walked over to the end of the hallway and saw the word FIRST printed onto the door in silver lettering. She walked in and saw about four girls all sitting on their own individual four-poster beds. All of the beds were green with large curtains on two sides. There were trunks at the foot of each, and they each got a window peering into what looked like the depths of the lake. It was very magical, and when Scarlette walked in all of the girls looked up. 

“It’s our last! She’s made it?” Scarlette smiled and the girls all hopped to greet her. Immediately Scarlette noticed that she was the shortest of the bunch, and that all the girls were quite beautiful. They all smiled warmly at her and introduced themselves. The tallest of them was a girl called Susan Stephenson and she had quite a bright smile. Her eyes were a bewitching black, and her hair was cut short. The second to come forward was a Mary Hendix who had fair brown hair and deep green eyes. The third was Brenda Brown who had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She smiled very sweetly but her eyes were like venom. The fourth was a girl named Christie Unche who had blonde hair and blue eyes, who was German and was very quiet and barely spoke. 

Scarlette settled in quite quickly, unpacking her trunk using her wandless magic and setting down reading  _ Hogwarts: a History _ , her favorite book. Soon, the bright chandelier above them dimmed and the girls closed their four poster curtains and went to sleep, the crackling fire providing a nice ambiance. Once the girls had settled down, Scarlette crept out of bed with her wand.  __

_ ~~~ _

The head girl gathered the other first year girls to show them the girl’s dormitory, and one of the older boys took the first year boys. Dirk gave Delphini a small wave as the two split, and she found herself alone again. As the girls trudged up the stairs to their dormitory, Delphini remembered her earlier conversation with Elias. She missed his presence now, and how he let her prattle on for minutes on end about whatever subject she got herself started on. She remained quiet as she rounded the corner into the dormitory and looked around. 

The dormitory felt cozy in the same way that the common room had, with a similar round shape and high windows. It was filled with four-poster beds, and the trunks were piled in the corner. Delphini made her way over to find her own. The lock was still tied shut, she noted, as she dragged it next to a bed under one of the windows. 

For a moment she looked around her. There was distant conversation coming from the common room downstairs, and the girls nearby had already set to unpacking. She felt the exhaustion of the day catch up to her, having talked to and been around more people and magic in one day than in the last year of her life. All she wanted to do was lose herself in a book and stop her brain from thinking so much for a while. Delphini carefully untied the knot to her trunk and swung it open, breathing in deeply as a wave of the smell of her home washed over her. She took one of the books that she’d nestled in among her clothes, tucking her knees up onto the bed and cracking the book open. 

Moonlight spilled from the window above her, casting the pages of the book in a silver-white light. She read hungrily, having saved this particular book for when she got here. The thick volume bore the title  _ Hogwarts: A History _ , and she’d bought it on her trip to Diagon Alley on a whim. She didn’t normally do that, buy things on a whim, but the book had seemed so intriguing and she had been fascinated with the school even back then. The memory seemed so distant as she sat atop her four-poster bed. She read deeper, feeling comforted by the familiar territory of reading when she was supposed to be asleep. 

~~~

Scarlette wandlessly cast a silencing charm and took out her Charms textbook. She had worked on  _ Lumos _ quite a bit with her mother, but other charms with a wand were still a mystery to her. She could do second year magic without thinking, but with a wand she could barely produce a light. She decided that tonight would be a good night to practice before her lessons began. She took out her schedule as well. She and Elias had charms that morning, from 10:00am to 11:00am. She opened the book and looked at the first charm. 

_ Alohomora. _ Of course, the unlocking charm, that would be simple, she mastered that one by the time she was eight. She faced her trunk, locked it, and then looked at the proper incantation. 

“ _ AlohOmora… _ yes that's it,” She pointed her wand at the trunk, steadied her hand and said clearly, “ _ Alohomora”  _ The trunk stayed firmly shut. She breathed twice, assuring herself it was normal and tried again, anxiety flaring in her mind. She tried again, and again and a fourth time. The trunk stayed motionless.  _ Maybe,  _ she thought, _ maybe I’m not focusing enough. _ She put her wand down and said out loud, limply swinging her hand in front of the trunk,  _ “Alohomora!” _

The trunk sprang open. She nearly cried.  _ This can’t be that difficult if I can do it normally… oh no.  _

But still, her resolve didn’t break. She worked for another half hour, succeeding once and giving a cheer, but no other times. Dispirited, she decided to go down to the common room. Making sure to take her red watch, she quietly lifted the silencing charm, grabbed her rose colored wand and headed down the corridor. 

~~~

Elias marched upstairs along with the rest of the boys and an older student pointed the group to a door at the end of the hall labeled “first.”

There were eight large four-poster beds lined up in the long rectangular room, four on one side, four on the other. A small open-hearth lay at the center of the vaulted room, with the same enchanted white fire alive at its heart. Elias found his trunk next to a bed at the far side of the room, next to a large window similar to those in the common room, and began to unpack. He neatly folded his robes into the small bed-side dresser and organized all his books on top, keeping them up with the-owl shaped bookends he had brought just in case they were not given personal shelves. Elias then turned to the ornate cage sitting atop his trunk; inside was a large sooty owl, he had gotten him for his fifth birthday, and promptly named him Barnaby. Barnaby was the first animal that was his and his alone to take care of, seeing as many of the bloodhounds, bees, and horses he also adored were considered the family’s, and he was the closest thing Elias had to a childhood best friend. He wouldn’t choose to extend his small menagerie until he was older, first receiving two large burmese pythons, Vera and Monty, then a gooty sapphire tarantula named Neela, and for his tenth birthday, a pine marten, Cosmo. He loved and cared for all his animals dearly, and deeply studied all of their proper habitats to correctly provide for them, but he never found himself very interested in magizoology. He enjoyed their company as one would enjoy the company of a friend or a sibling, but found the idea of taking care or studying animals that were not the ones he had grown to know and love horribly boring. 

Instead, what truly fascinated him was learning deeper magic, beyond your simple charms and hexes, the sort of skills which one has to spend years sharpening to a fine point, the kind of knowledge only held by the most accomplished witch or wizard. It was for this reason that, prior to attending Hogwarts, he learned all basic levels of magic, so when he began a more formal wizarding education, he would be able to quickly advance past beginners magic, and into more interesting topics. Another reason he had always hoped to receive such an education from a private tutor. 

He pulled a small bag of owl feed from a pocket in his trunk and let Barnaby out of his cage to come and sit on Elias’ arm, he would take him to the owlery in the morning. For now, he decided to pull a book from his bed-side table, and read until he grew tired with Barnaby resting on his headboard. His plan was quickly thwarted by his four roommates who concluded that right at that moment was the perfect time to recite a slew of repetitious introductions, which Elias wanted no part of, but was given no choice as a boy named Severus was soon approaching him.

“Hello, we sat near each other during the feast, I’m Severus,.” He seemed to be attempting to be kind, but his greasy hair and sharp features made him look more like a starved dog.

“Y-yes, I remember.” Elias found that all his adrenaline-fueled confidence had completely dissipated and all he wanted was to be alone in a quiet room with Barnaby and his book. 

“You’re a Rosier, aren’t you,” he said with now the same glint of hunger in his dark eyes. Severus sat down on his bed, which just happened to be next to Elias’. 

“Yes, I am, but my name is Elias,” he said with an ounce of bite, he was getting tired of people capitalizing on the fact that yes, he was a Rosier. The last thing he wanted was to stick out any more than the sore thumb he already felt like. He turned back to his book, hoping that the scrawny boy would give up, the day had already been incomparably stressful and he was so tired, but no.

“I like your owl,” Severus began, “I don’t have an owl of my own, but I am hoping to get one soon.” Elias simply nodded, there was something off about Severus, he was clearly attempting to make conversation but his tone was so shallow, so ingenuine. 

“Are you friends with that girl Scarlette?” Said Severus, and Elias had to stop for a moment,  _ are we friends?  _ He thought,  _ of course I've enjoyed her company so far and we have exchanged kind words, but what quite constitutes friendship? _

“I - er - I suppose? I’m not quite sure, we only just met.” Once again, Elias looked back down at his book.

“Well you shouldn't be friends with her,” the boy said in a hushed yet very matter-of-fact voice. 

“Why shouldn't I? And what have you against her? She was kind enough to you during the feast.” 

“I don’t have anything against  _ her _ , but I can already tell she’s hanging out with the wrong sort. I saw on the train she is friends with some Gryffindors, pompous arses the lot of em’.  _ I _ certainly wouldn’t want to be seen with them.”

“Like I said, we only just met.” Elias wasn’t so sure about what Severus had said, Remus had seemed quite nice,  _ but remember, they were talking about you, perhaps he was only nice when he had to be. _ He was beginning to like this conversation less and less. __

“Well it’s just a - “ Severus was cut off by Crouch entering the dorm room, he had not come up with them originally, and stalked over to Elias, leaning against his bedpost.

“So, your father’s in the ministry huh? Well that’s funny because you act all important and yet I have never heard my father mention the name ‘Rosier’  _ once, _ ” he nodded cockily, a smirk stretching across his face, “And I asked Lucius, and he hadn’ heard of any ministry Rosier either, so you know what I think? I think you’re a little lyin’ twat, I bet your dad works as some low-level member of the Muggle-Worthy Excuses Committee, if he even works in the ministry at all,'' Crouch laughed obnoxiously and the other four boys turned to watch. Everyone’s eyes were on Elias, it felt like he was back on the train,  _ the room will collapse in on me, the windows will break, _ but this time there was a beacon through the haze. The feeling of detestation for the boy standing before him dragged him through his panic, forcing Elias to stand up and face him despite his legs feeling like they had been hit with a jelly-jinx and the nausea creeping up his throat. 

“Or perhaps,” he spat, looking down at Crouch, “my father is simply so important that he doesn't have to bother with the  _ pointless _ comings and goings of a lowly auror, especially not one who is so subpar they can’t even catch a criminal without the use of illegal spells.” Elias’ heart was racing and he begged himself to not let tears prick his eyes. The two stood in silence for a moment, glaring at each other.

“W-where does your father work then?” Said one of the other boys quietly, he was a small boy with messy auburn hair, his tone sounded vaguely scared, as if he was about to poke a sleeping bear.

“I-- “ the simplest answer would be “I don’t know” but he couldn’t possibly say that. He did know, sort of -- he knew as much as he was allowed to know which wasn’t very much at all. He knew his father wasn’t allowed to talk about his work, he knew that on the few occasions his father’s colleagues had come over for dinner they had spent the majority of the evening either talking about the odd grandfather clock in their living room or locked away in his office. He knew his father worked in the basement as he once had to go with him (although he couldn’t remember why, in fact all he could remember was the elevator and a long dark hallway, and as hard as he tried, everything else after that was a blur). “ He-- er-- He works on Level Nine.” Elias said nervously, still looking at Crouch, whose face flitted through multiple expressions before landing on a sneer. 

“So he works in the bloody basement with all the rats? Not surprising.”All the other boys looked at each other in confusion as Crouch marched back to his bed, and sat down, beginning to unpack his trunk. Elias picked up his book and stalked out of the room, he decided to read in the common room until the other boys were asleep. 

~~~

***!!***

As Scarlette passed each room, there was a different level of noise. The higher she went through the ages, the louder the volume was, and when she reached the bottom of the stairs, the sounds from the boy’s side were even worse. 

She looked at the dim common room and slowly made her way to a rather large comfy chair. She opened her book and began whispering incantations. She was able to transfigure a quill on the table to a dove and back, but when she picked up her wand, all she achieved was a slight levitation and then fall. She sighed disparagingly and tossed her book onto a different couch. 

Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes on the back of her head, she whipped around and shot a stunning spell at the person. Said person blocked the charm, and Scarlette found herself looking into the grey-blue eyes of Lucius Malfoy. She gasped and sat up immediately, realizing the vulnerable position she was slouching in. He smirked and walked to the other side of the couch and sat on the other end. 

“How- how long were you standing there?” Scarlette tried to contain her shock. Malfoy chuckled. 

“I’ve been here since we arrived.” Scarlette looked at the second year. She had the vague recollection of him and Crouch sitting in the chairs when she had arrived. 

“Do you make it a habit of sneaking up on unsuspecting first years?” Scarlette spat. Malfoy shrugged and moved closer. 

“Only the ones that interest me…” Malfoy inched closer. Scarlette eyed him up and down. 

“And I, a first year, interests you?” Malfoy shrugged. 

“You have a quality about you. Crouch remarked about it too.” Scarlette was curious. 

“What sort of quality?” Malfoy looked into each of her eyes before remarking, 

“You’re enchanting. You speak and think as if you’re twice your age. You hold yourself differently.” Scarlette snorted and said,

“I very much doubt that.” Malfoy’s face darkened. 

“Don’t you notice the way people swarm to you? It’s unnatural.” He said this with a look in her direction. She looked around the room, unable to meet his gaze. 

“No one ‘swarms’ to me, I think I give off very comforting and pleasant energy, something which you do not possess.” Scarlette snapped. Malfoy smirked again. It was becoming insufferable. 

“How long do you think people know someone before they defend them from a perceived threat?”

Scarlette’s eyebrows furrowed in thought.  _ What does this bloke think he’s playing at? _

“What d’you mean?” Scarlette queried. Malfoy looked at her expectantly. 

“Rosier. Black. Lupin. I saw how they practically throw themselves at you, whenever a slight obstacle comes along.” Scarlette’s eyes roamed back to the boy's face, expecting a smile, or at least a sly look in his eyes. She saw nothing. 

“They’re my friends. We took the express together. Besides, I’m not exactly the strongest individual as you can see.” Malfoy laughed, openly now. 

“Darling, those boys can see that quite easily. My question is why? No normal young boy is so focused on a girl. I watched them carry your trunk for you.” Scarlette’s mind began to reel. 

“They- they were just-” Malfoy suddenly sprang up, 

“They what? Go on, say it, explain it to me.” Scarlette jumped at the close of space. She was suddenly acutely aware of the hungry gleam in his eye; for information. Knowledge, her father once told her, was power. At this moment, she fully understood the house she had been sorted into.  _ Of course I despise not knowing, that’s normal. But I wouldn’t go to the lengths of trapping a first year in a darkening common room! _

“Malfoy.” Malfoy raised his eyebrows in question. “What do  _ you _ think it is about me?” Malfoy sat back. He stared into the fire and for the first time she could examine him. He was wearing very expensive robes. She knew he was part of the twenty eight families, and that only the best was afforded to them, but there was something else too. When she looked into his light iris’ which stared into the fire, and decided that she would stick to his side. He was a special individual, and even though he terrified her, she knew that somewhere he was terrified. For what reasons, she did not know. She knew that she had to help this boy, because there seemed to be a dark cloud floating above him, suffocating him. 

After a second, he recovered from his thoughts, and saw the redhead staring at him, contemplating. She immediately stopped, blushing, after he caught her. 

“I wish I could place it, Hemmingway.” Scarlette nodded. Malfoy looked at her and for a split second, Scarlette could’ve sworn his eyes had grown darker. Then, just as she had noticed it, they were replaced to the normal grey-blue. 

“What was your first year like?” Malfoy seemed startled at this change of conversation. 

“Uneventful. It was easy, I’m quite good at magic. Especially in defense against the dark arts.” Seeing the look of confusion on her face he added, “You’ll get that option to take it again, in your second year. It’s an eye-opening class.” Scarlette’s face shone with excitement, and he added, 

“You’d better learn to duel first.” Scarlette’s face fell. 

“To be completely honest, I’m not great at wand magic.” Malfoy was silent. 

“So what  _ are _ you good at?” Scarlette wordlessly summoned a goblet of wine from the kitchens. Malfoy’s face didn’t change, but his eyes lit up in astonishment. 

“Wandless magic?” Scarlette nodded, her curls going everywhere. 

“I’ve known since I was a youngin. It’s quite useful, but I’m quite daft when it comes to wand-ful magic.” At this, the boy broke into peals of laughter. 

“Imagine that! A talented wandless magic mage, and yet absolutely shite at wand magic. That’s right funny, that is.” Scarlette saw the fearsome mask peel back, and the young boy revealed. _I hope he can stay this way, I quite like this version of him_.  Then, Malfoy cast a quick levitation charm, and the goblet of wine floated over Scarlette’s head. She squealed and got up quite quickly. Malfoy’s face darkened again as well as his eyes, which were once again pools of ice. Scarlette tripped over her copy of _Charms For Beginners_ and fell backwards into a small chair. 

Malfoy sprang up to help sturdy her, walking over to her. She was completely covered in his shadow, and again his eyes darkened. He began to advance on her, and fear jolted through her veins. The predatory gleam had returned and he was no longer the sweet boy of twelve. Suddenly, someone cleared their throat and both of them whipped around to face the intruder. 

~~~

***!!***

Elias was halfway down the stairs when he heard a small scream coming from the common room, he stopped for a moment before quickly and quietly running down the stairs. If there were people down there he didn’t want to intrude, but he also knew it would be wrong for him to not make sure everyone was alright. He stopped when he reached the entrance of the common room, the two people by the fireplace did not notice him, they were the only people in the room. Malfoy stood over Scarlette who looked like she had just fallen back into a chair and was staring up at the blonde boy with an odd expression on her face. Malfoy was smiling, somewhere between a friendly grin and a smirk, if Elias hadn’t seen Scarlette’s face he might have thought the two had been playfully joking around, perhaps they were better friends then he thought, but looking at Scarlette, she didn’t seem like she was playing. Her face was filled with shock and confusion, even fear, she seemed paler. For a brief moment he considered turning around and going back upstairs, he truly didn’t want to make so many enemies on the first day and perhaps he really was simply reading the situation wrong, but the look she was giving him, something was definitely off. He cleared his throat and they both jumped and turned to look at him.

“Am I interrupting something?” Elias said, feigning confidence.

“Actually, yes, d’you mind?” Malfoy smirked.

“Yes, in fact, I do.” Scarlette looked at Elias, it was the same look she had given him during the feast. Elias walked across the room and sat on the couch opposite Scarlette.

“You know Rosier, it's dangerous to play with snakes, they bite.” Malfoy sat down next to Scarlette, a gleam of malice in his eyes.  _ Little does he know, _ Elias chuckled internally.

“Oh, I’ve been taking care of two Burmese pythons since I was seven, don’t worry, I know how to handle such an animal.” He found it was both easy (and quite fun) to talk back to someone you did not, nor need to, respect. Despite the satisfying look of hatred on Malfoy’s face, anxiety still squirmed in his stomach. He saw Scarlette become more visibly uncomfortable, and wondered if there was any way to get her out and away from Malfoy without him worming in an excuse for her to stay.

“Rosier, where are your manners? Let the lady speak!” The confident smirk on the boy’s face was back as he gently elbowed Scarlette’s side, even though the tap was considerably light, Scarlette jumped as if she had been hit. The tension in the room was palpable, he knew he should have gotten her out earlier, and just then, he had an idea.

“Actually, Scarlette, I came down here because I wanted to show you something, it’s this great book I brought with me I thought you might like to read. It’s still up in my room, here let’s both go up there now and then I can give it to you.” He smiled at her and stood up, offering his hand, internally sighing with relief when she took it. He felt he squeeze his hand ever so slightly, and hoped that was a sign that he had done the correct thing. Malfoy stood as well, saying in a mocking voice, 

“Leaving so soon?”

“Yes, I think so, but I’ll see you tomorrow for sure!” She smiled nervously at him and she and Elias made their way across the room, he found it curious how she was still kind to him even after it was clear he made her unhappy. Elias second guessed himself for what felt like the fifth time that day,  _ if she’s telling him that she‘ll see him tomorrow, then perhaps it was just a misunderstanding? But she looked so unhappy… why would she say she still wanted to see him?  _ They were nearing the stairs when Malfoy again spoke out and made them stop.

~~~

***!!***

Scarlette couldn’t reply, her mouth was dry and she was worried that if she would respond her eyes would betray her. She looked at Malfoy, who gave her a warning glace, and decided that if she didn’t leave now, she might not be able to. She took his hand and squeezed it gratefully. Malfoy stood with both of them. 

“Leaving so soon?” The blonde said, Elias looked at him, then back to Scarlette. She was visibly shaking and quickly said, 

“Yes, I think so, but I’ll see you tomorrow for sure!” She gave him a quick smile and took off with Elias. Before they reached the staircase, Malfoy called out, 

“Let’s hope that your Mr. Rosier will always be around to save the day.” Scarlette felt a knot tighten in her stomach.

~~~

***!!***

_ What?!  _ Elias was silently fuming,  _ I shouldn’t need to ‘save’ anything, you should stop being such an arse!  _ He spun around, not being able to contain himself. 

“Let’s hope I don’t have to.” He spat through clenched teeth with a look that said,  _ you slimy bastard.  _ Once they reached the stairs, Scarlette quickened her pace until they were far enough that the light from the common room had disappeared, and Elias pulled her to a stop.

“I’m so sorry about that, I didn’t know if you two knew each other prior, you just seemed uncomfortable, I hope I haven’t made things worse.” He was sincerely hoping she didn't think any lesser of him for being rude to Malfoy, despite the fact that he certainly seemed to deserve it. She smiled at him reassuringly. 

“It’s really okay, he gave me a bit of a fright, and he’s a very strange lad, but I don’t think he meant any harm...”She seemed confused as she spoke, distant, and he couldn’t help but question the truth of her words.

“Iー I don’t mean to speak out of turn, perhaps I was reading the situation wrong, which wouldn’t be all too surprising, but it seemed as though he was acting... untoward, I suppose?” He did not want to make her any more uncomfortable by probing too far, but the way she spoke, how she fiddled with her hands… he didn't know, it was just  _ off. _

“It’s really okay, thank you very much, if anything would’ve happened I could’ve stopped it.” He wanted to ask if anything almost did happen, if she was alright, but refrained, feeling that, seeing as they had only met a handful of hours prior, he didn't want to scare her away with too-personal questions.  _ Maybe, under the circumstance, it would be alright to ask?- No, just leave it. If she says she’s fine, she’s fine.  _ Despite not being fully convinced by his inner monologue, he let it be, stating, “I don’t doubt it,” with a gentle smile. 

They soon heard someone’s footsteps coming from below and she quickly bade him goodnight. Elias noticed how eager she was to avoid Malfoy… perhaps he should have asked. He rushed upstairs to his dorm, not wanting to have another run in with Malfoy either, and happy when he found the rest of the boys were already in bed. 

~~~

Delphini decided that she wanted to see the grounds before she got to sleep, and so she twisted herself around on her bed to gaze out of the window behind her. Hogwarts was hauntingly beautiful at night, a vast, moonlit landscape of deep blues and pthalo greens. She gazed deep into the lake, which looked like it extended down into the depths forever. She looked to the forest that she knew from her father’s accounts to be the forbidden forest, and wondered what could be lurking inside.

Every aspect of the school seemed so complex and depthful, each with its own trove of secrets to be explored. As she lost herself in her reverie, a flash of movement at the edge of the Forbidden Forest caught her eye. She sat up, leaning over the headboard and pressing her face closer to the window to get a clearer picture. It looked like a girl, a shock of red hair spilling over her shoulders, walking into the forbidden forest. She frowned a bit, narrowing her eyes as she tried to look closer. She shook her head, dismissing the vision as a side effect of her exhaustion from the day, and sat back down. Delphini turned her back fully to the window and continued her reading. 

~~~

“I don’t doubt it.” Elias said with a smile, although seemingly unconvinced. They stood there in silence for a couple moments and then heard Malfoy’s footsteps echoing down the chamber. Fear filled Scarlette again and she bid Elias, 

“Goodnight, I hope you and I have some classes together! See you tomorrow!” He nodded at her with a smile and she scurried off down the girl’s hallway. She felt Elias watching her go, and considered turning and thanking him again, but saw Malfoy's green robes appear and instantly slid into her dormitory. The end of an interesting night, bordering on a fantastic day. 

As she slid into her four poster bed, she contemplated Elias, Malfoy and Sirius.  _ Why do they all seem interconnected _ ?

Her dreams were normal except for oddly, a pair of grey wings and icy blue eyes.

~~~

Elias changed into his nightclothes, but did not immediately go to bed. Instead, he reveled in the quiet, and sat on the window sill by his bed, gazing into the lake. Occasionally some creature or another would swim past, briefly coming into view before disappearing once more into the blue. He could see, somewhere high above, the moonlight shown and danced in tortoise patterns on the surface, creating tunnels of a silver haze which plunge into the dark. For the first time in what seemed like days, he felt truly calm; the scene was quiet and serene, and he was finally breathing easily. He chuckled softly to himself, _ how ironic, breathing easily under deep waters. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary of *!!* passage:   
> Wanting to practice her magic, Scarlette goes back to the common room instead of going to sleep. Lucius approaches her and asks invasive questions, he's generally very creepy and says she "interests" him, which is confusing for her. She is very uncomfortable and he keeps trying to sit closer to her until Elias comes and, realizing she is upset, makes an excuse to get Scarlette back to her dorm room. Lucius try's to make fun of Elias for acting like Scarlette's "savior" and Elias implies that he's only acting this way because Lucius is going out of his way to take advantage of Scarlette for reasons unknown. Elias and Scarlette have a short conversation in the stairwell in which Scarlette says that Lucius was most likely just trying to be nice (she is excusing his actions because she want's to see the best in people) and Elias wonders if he made a mistake and read the situation wrong (he didn't).


	6. Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun rises on Hogwarts...

The next morning things felt much better. The strange tension from last night had left a sour taste in her mouth; but she made it a point to be even kinder to Malfoy,  _ I know he’s not horrid, sure he didn’t act like the kindest boy last night… the look I saw in his eyes… poor boy.  _ She put on her school uniform. As she walked down the stairs her book floated behind her, in the common room she saw Malfoy and Crouch lounging on the couches. Malfoy shot her a look and beckoned her to him. Unable to find a quick escape she walked to him and sat down next to Crouch. Her books stacked neatly next to her and she began tying her tie around her neck. Crouch leaned across her and took one of the books. 

“So, what’s our first class?” Malfoy looked at Crouch as he spoke, 

“Why, don’t you know?” Scarlette asked the raven haired boy. 

“Why should I while I have you to do it instead?” Crouch asked with a smirk. Scarlette searched the room but neither Elias nor Severus were anywhere to be seen. She took her book back from Crouch and told him gently, 

“We have transfiguration first. The professor is McGonagall, we met her yesterday. First though, we have breakfast.” Malfoy shifted his gaze to Scarlette. His voice was silky, and his eyes searched hers while he asked, 

“Hemmingway, where are you sitting for the meal?” Scarlette looked at him. 

“I don’t have anywhere yet, I suppose I’ll sit at our table.” Malfoy looked at her approvingly. 

“Good, good. Don’t sit with the Gryffindors. You have surrounded yourself with… a lesser crowd… and it’s good that you’ve seen  _ we’re  _ the superior people.” Scarlette glared at him with a cold look, but held her tongue.

Then, she saw Elias and said to Malfoy, 

“I’ll see you at breakfast.” Malfoy put his hand on her arm, and she looked down to see an icy glare. 

“You’ve nothing to say? I’ve just insulted your supposed friends to your face and you stand quiet. Why?” Scarlette pulls her hand from his grip and says, 

“I prefer not to speak on the matter with you, Malfoy” She glided over to Elias, her books knocking into Crouch’s leg. 

~~~

Delphini was  _ sore _ . She woke up to sunlight spilling across her face, turning the inside of her eyelids bright red. She winced as she opened her eyes to the harsh light, and she internally groaned. She’d fallen asleep in an awkward position, with  _ Hogwarts: A History _ face-down on her stomach. Her back cracked as she sat up and looked around blearily, realizing that the girls around her were mostly still asleep. She slotted her bookmark back into the book and swung her legs off the side of the bed, stumbling a little as she got up, and shuffled off to straighten up for the day. Her clothes were the same ones she’d worn the day before, and she barely remembered to change before heading to the common room. 

As she walked downstairs, it looked just as warm and inviting as it had the day before. She sighed as looked around fondly, taking in how homely the room looked in the golden morning light. 

“Long night?” 

Delphini tensed as she turned slowly to look at where the voice had come from. It was Dirk, hovering in the doorway to the boy’s dormitory. His posture was loose and his eyes were half-lidded and disinterested. 

“Um. Yeah, I guess. I was doing some reading and I guess I kind of… drifted off.” Delphini knew it was an awkward response, but her mind was still too sleep-addled to care. Dirk looked somehow different than he had in the great hall before, more disaffected and distant. Somehow more stoic and closed off. Distantly, Delphini wondered if it had something to do with the boys. 

“I don’t know why more people aren’t up. It really isn’t that early. Anyways, breakfast?” 

Delphini blinked at the subject change. 

“Yeah, sure,” She said, somewhat warily. Why had Dirk suddenly become so different? Delphini pondered as she walked towards the door, Dirk shoving off the wall and falling into step slightly behind her. 

“So, what’s your deal?” Dirk asked, voice filling the echo chamber of the stairwell as they ascended towards the Great Hall.

“My… deal?” Delphini was downright confused now. Was she supposed to know what that meant? Why was Dirk being so cryptic? 

“Yeah, y’know, your deal. What’s up with you, what’s your thing?” Dirk said, as though that clarified anything. 

Delphini pondered this. She tried to pull out defining features about herself, and frowned a bit as she found there wasn’t much to pull. After a moment, she settled on an adequate reply. 

“I’m pretty smart, I guess,” She looked over at Dirk as he processed her words. 

“Huh, cool.” There was a moment of silence as their footsteps echoed around the space. 

“What about you? What’s your deal?” Delphini asked, genuinely interested in how Dirk would answer. A moment of surprise flashed across Dirk’s features, though it was almost imperceptible. 

“I guess I don’t really know. I like to think that I’m good with people,” Dirk said, shutting down anything Delphini could’ve come up with. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her robes, unable to avoid the feeling that she’d overstepped her bounds. She pulled out and unfolded her schedule and looked it over. It took a moment for her to realize that Dirk was reading over her shoulder. 

“Oh, we have potions first,” Dirk remarked. Delphini was eager to latch onto the subject change, though the two arrived at the great hall before the conversation could continue. The tables were sparsely populated, and Delphini immediately headed towards the Hufflepuff table, Dirk following silently behind her. 

~~~

Elias and Scarlette followed a group out of the common room and marched up the stairs to the great hall, where he saw Delphini sitting at the Hufflepuff table in conversation with the strawberry-blonde boy who Elias recognized from the sorting ceremony. He pulled Scarlette with him towards the Hufflepuff table, he was rather tired of Slytherin company. Although before they could reach Delphini, Sirius ran up to them and grabbed Scarlette’s arm.

“Hey, Lette, can I speak to you?” Sirius’ eyes flicked towards Elias, who looked away from the pair, feeling as though he was intruding.

“Eat without me, I’ll catch up.” Scarlette said before walking away with Sirius, while Elias made his way to Delphini. Several Hufflepuffs stared at him as he walked past, their faces etched with confusion and a pinch of fear. He wanted to smile at them but worried it may come off as more of a smirk, so instead he looked at the ground and tried not to make eye contact. 

~~~

The group sat down while Sirius took her hand and led her to the corner of the hall.  _ I wonder what this is about… _

“So… Lette. I’ve been thinking about Roiser.” Scarlette backed up slightly. 

“Why?” Scarlette asked him, slightly afraid of what the answer may be. Sirius’s eyes darkened to a black when they made eye contact. 

“It’s not safe to be his friend. He’s my distant cousin, and I know his family he’s-” Scarlette looked at him delicately. He stopped talking and she said softly, 

“Why is it that so many people are interested in who I wish to be friends with? He’s your cousin, for Merlin’s sake! I’ve just met him, and you, please. Let’s stop. I’ve had this conversation twice now, and I’m just about losing my mind.” Sirius opened his mouth to refute the red head, but a blonde boy swooped in and grabbed Scarlette away. Sirius watched as Crouch and Malfoy led the small girl away between them.

~~~

“Morning, Elias!” Delphini said brightly as he sat down next to her, “This is Dirk,” She nodded across the table at the strawberry-blonde. ‘Dirk’ waved at him and smiled. 

“We were just looking over our schedules. Dirk and I have potions first, what about you?” Delphini was clearly very excited and Elias wanted to match her enthusiasm, but he couldn't help but glance over at Scarlette and Sirius standing in the corner. He looked down at his plate of eggs on toast, the smell of it suddenly nauseating.

“Oh - I - er - I have transfiguration first, with Scarlette.” At that moment he saw Scarlette be snatched away from Sirius by Malfoy,  _ Merlin's beard, this is getting ridiculous! They way they act around her… it's as if they were playing musical cauldrons!  _ Despite this general annoyance, he felt a pit form in his stomach when Malfoy pulled her down to sit between himself and Crouch at the Slytherin table. Delphini turned to see what he was looking at.

“What’s wrong?”

“Those boys sitting with Scarlette, they’re…” he paused for a moment, not quite knowing the right word for it, “Oh I don’t know, just, they don’t seem very friendly - or they seem too friendly in the wrong way - I don’t know, but Scarlette seems to like them.” He shook his head slightly and turned back to the table, although he and Delphini whipped around again at the sound of clattering plates. He saw Scarlette say something quietly to Malfoy before she marched over to the Hufflepuff table with a scowl on her face. 

~~~

“Malfoy, what’re you doing?” 

Mafoy glided over to the Slytherin table and summoned her books away from the Hufflepuff bench. Scarlette began to struggle slightly and Malfoy looked down at her, helping her sit on the bench. 

“Darling, you can’t sit with those inferior to us… especially not when one of them is betraying his own house.” Scarlette sat down and was quickly pushed between Crouch and Malfoy. She felt really uncomfortable, and thought to herself,  _ why me? They can’t possibly want something worthwhile. No I have to stay, maybe Lucius needs me… _ She sat up straight and served herself some breakfast. The peace did not last, and soon Malfoy and Crouch were goading her again, talking about Elias and what a useless Slytherin he was. 

“Look at him, Hemmingway. Your shining savior, sitting with some horrid Hufflepuffs. He’s not worth  _ our  _ friendship.” Scarlette fought back anger and found herself getting upset.  _ He’s trying to get a rise out of me, I mustn't give in _ . The more she tried, however, the more upset she got. After one particularly ghastly remark she gave up.

“D’you reckon he’s much like his father? I hear from my father that Sr. Roiser is a coward, and a suspected traitor.” That did it. Scarlette got up very quickly, spilling her goblet of water and clinking the dishes. She summoned her books and walked quickly away. She heard Malfoy get up and follow her and was acutely aware of everyone’s gaze on them. She spun around and said quietly to Malfoy,   
“Lucius, I’m not hungry anymore.” He stops and she hurries to the Hufflepuff table feeling the threatening glares follow her. As she walked past the Gryffindor table James reached out and she caught his hand as she passed. He squeezed it reassuringly and she hurried to her friends. 

Elias and Delphini had seen the whole thing transpire, that was clear, and they moved to allow her room to sit with them. Neither said anything but Scarlette could tell they were curious. As the normal noise resumed in the hall so did the tension at the Hufflepuff table. Although even that soon dissolved and they were talking about classes and joking around.

“We have transfiguration and then charms, although I’ve seen the magic you’ve been doing, Scarlette, and I’m sure it will come easy to the both of us. I’ve already mastered basic charms and transfiguration spells so hopefully I won’t be too bored.” Elias said it sincerely, unaware that it could come off as pretentious. Scarlette blushed and replied, 

“I think I’ve fooled you, Rosier. I haven’t used my wand since last night!” 

~~~

“Oh? You’re a practitioner of wandless magic? Without being trained in wand magic? How is that possible? I mean, yes I myself know the most basic of wandless charms, but only after learning them with a wand, but you are showing moderately advanced levels of magic with no prior training! Don’t you understand how unusual and, to be quite honest, remarkable that is!” He had read of some ancient wizards with such strong natural abilities, but it was quite rare and often only seen in children with other magical abnormalities. Elias was intrigued. 

“Would you like to see something?”

“Of course!” 

Scarlette put her hands together in a soft glow and soon sparks were shooting up towards the blue sky ceiling and several students broke into applause. He couldn’t help but be in awe of her, he was also quite excited to further explore what she could achieve with wand magic, now that she had proven herself.  _ Fascinating!  _

_ ~~~ _

Delphini watched as Scarlette began a curious display of gentle violet light emanating from the space between her hands, and towards the end some blue sparks jumped up towards the ceiling. Delphini and Dirk shared a complicated look, somewhere between questioning and awed. Both of them took something different from The Look, with Delphini receiving the message of  _ ‘What was that? How did she do it? I have so many questions, more than I had before, but we can’t talk now so we’ll discuss this later. Maybe we could swap theories on the subject?’  _ To which she had attempted to respond with  _ ‘I know, right? We will definitely come back to this later. Possibly in the library.’  _

Dirk, however, had been attempting to say something more along the lines of  _ ‘Woah! Do you know what that was? I would ask you outright but there’s some surly-looking Slytherins nearby and I’m not trying to get mixed up in anything.’  _ To which Delphini had presumably responded  _ ‘I have some working theories, but I need more information. I agree, though, we can’t talk right now.’  _ Despite the discrepancy between their interpretations, the message was similar enough in both of their minds to cause them to go back to their food and not say anything on the subject outright. Delphini noticed Sirius, still standing away from any tables, looking menacingly at Elias. She narrowed her eyes at him, partly in curiosity and partly in scrutiny. She assumed that he didn’t see her, and that he wouldn’t think too hard on it even if he did. 

_ ~~~ _

“That was amazing… you’re amazing!” He exclaimed,  _ this is wonderful _ , he thought _ , someone at my level who I can practice advanced magic with, without being held down by basics! _ Although all his joy was swallowed by the look Sirius was giving him from across the room. The pale boy’s icy eyes were glaring at him, and he watched as he turned to James and whispered something in his ear. Elias saw the pair laugh quietly to themselves and suddenly felt like a ghost's hands were pushing down on his ribs, making it more and more difficult to breath.  _ They’re talking about you again—  _ he tapped his foot excessively on the stone floor, the smell of eggs on toast was clouding his brain and he pushed his plate away but the clinking of his fork and knife stung his ears, and tears began to prick his eyes, and he hid his hands under the table so the others wouldn’t see them seizing —  _ not here please not here, stop stop stop, they’re talking about you and now they’re going to watch you cry, why does this happen to me I need to leave please stop looking at me — _

~~~

Elias had pushed his plate away, and looked upset by the boys. Delphini glanced over at where Sirius was standing, as he was now joined by James. The two were laughing, and the pieces fell together in Delphini’s head. Elias seemed upset because he thought that he was being ridiculed, by some Gryffindor boys, no less. Delphini looked over at the boys again, eyes narrowed and glance more akin to a glare this time. As she predicted, the boys paid her no mind. 

Soon, the bell rang and Elias had stood up and walked swiftly away from the table. Delphini watched him leave. 

“What was all of that about?” Dirk said after a moment. He was looking over at her, and she shook herself slightly to stop from zoning out completely. Their conversation still felt distant, and Delphini felt as though she kept saying the wrong thing. She hadn’t had much practice with delicate social situations, and it was clear that Dirk had. Her social world, aside from a few notable exceptions, existed as blocks and dialogue stems, and she kept choosing the worst options. 

“I think it’s just some Slytherin issue,” She said, her voice small and distant. She stood up, and cast a final glance at the rapidly-emptying Slytherin table before walking off towards Potions. Dirk, as he had done since she had met him, followed her. 

~~~

The bell rang, making Elias jump, and they all stood up. His head was swimming and could hardly register that he was walking at all until he felt Scarlette pull him aside.

“Elias, come here, what’s wrong?” He didn’t answer, instead he focused on the floor and willed himself not to cry, “Elias? What’s happened?” Her voice reached him through the din, she sounded genuinely concerned.

“I hope I haven’t muddled things because of last night...” Elias wasn’t quite sure if he had said anything at all, his voice sounded too loud in his head yet he felt as though he had whispered it.

“What do you mean?”  _ Too many— too many people, _ he quickly pulled her behind a tall golden statue and paused for a moment —  _ say it. Just spit it out. _

“I saw you an’ Sirius were talking in the corner earlier and you glanced at me—“ his heart felt like a rabbit being chased by a hunter and he closed his eyes tight, trying to calm his mind, “and I— I— why—,” it was as if the words were physically caught in his throat, scratching at his vocal chords, he had to cough to get them out. Even then, it took untying his tongue to let out each syllable, “Ma hied’s mince… I just want to know… what you were saying about me.” He stared at a small engraving in the statue, just a select few ancient ruins marking the date it was created, he repeated the numbers in his head as he waited for her answer.

“He was asking about our lunch, and if I’d join them. He was very determined.” Elias turned his head to look at her, he wanted to believe her, but her eyes were shifting around the enclosed space and she was picking at the skin under her fingernails.  _ So they were speaking ill of me… she wouldn’t lie if they hadn’t been… _ his jaw tensed, the pit in his stomach replaced by a tight knot of anger.  _ I don’t understand, what did I do to them? Am I truly that hopeless, I can’t go a day without— _

~~~

“I— gonnae no’ dae that! It’s not helpin’ me to be lied too you know!” He said quickly. She looked into his eyes, they darkened instantly, and had a sharpness to them she wasn’t accustomed to. “Tell me what’d he said to you” Elias’ voice was trembling again, and his accent seemed to be getting more incomprehensible by the moment. Scarlette made up her mind to just tell him, it was clear he would know if she didn’t. 

“He just told me not to trust you. Something about how you’re his cousin, he didn’t say too much. I’m sorry…” Elias had a look of conflict in his face. She studied him and saw the anxiety mix with anger mix with fear and resolve. He looked down at her and the only thing that she saw then was a look of guilt. 

“Merlin… I hand’t meant to get cross, I hadn’t meant it… here, I’m sure we’ll be late if we don’t hurry.” He linked his arm through hers and walked down the hallway as though nothing had transpired. _ That’s clearly something he’s thought about quite a lot, I wonder if there’s something he’s not letting on about… what could be the cause, I wonder?  _ They went to transfiguration and were almost late when Crouch tripped Scarlette down the stairs. Elias was able to scoop her up before any real damage was done, and Crouch walked away sulking. 

“Bastard,” Elias said under his breath, “what in the cosmos has he got against you?” Scarlette shrugged. 

“Last night, when Malfoy had caught me alone he told me there was an ‘enchanting quality’ about me and that he’s trying to investigate. I think Crouch is aiding him in his research, just abusing me to see how many people assist. I think Crouch has a good time, though I could be wrong…” Elias looked at Scarlette as they walked into transfiguration.

“He’s in my dorm, and he’s… well he’s a right prick to put it simply.” Scarlette laughed at his comment. He smiled, but the tears still drying in his eyes made it seem only half-genuine.

~~~

Delphini entered the dark room, somewhat apprehensive. She looked around, trying to decide who to sit down next to. She opted to sit next to Dirk, for no other reason than she wouldn’t have to introduce herself again. The students settled around the room, and once they were all sitting the professor began to introduce himself. He was a middle aged man with a kind face, dressed in a three-piece tweed suit. He introduced himself as Professor Slughorn, and he struck Delphini as someone distinctly academic. He went over the premise of the class, and as he gave his introductory speech Dirk nudged her arm. 

“D’you know anything about potions?” He asked, softly. Delphini looked over at him, then up at Slughorn, and then back down at her desk. 

“Not much. I’ve done some reading, though.” Dirk made an affirmative noise in the back of his throat, and then returned to watching Slughorn speak. He was still prattling on, going over the syllabus. Delphini looked over the paper, noting the supplies she already had. She glanced over at Dirk sitting beside her, mulling over how different he’d been every time he’d talked to her. She wondered if how he’d acted before was a front, meant to lure her in. She shook off the thought, dismissing it as ridiculous. Dirk was probably just nervous the first time and wanted to make a good impression. The only thing that derailed this line of thought was a sudden burst of movement, as the students around her took out their cauldrons. She reached for her own, somewhat startled that she’d missed the direction to do so altogether. 

“Observe your cauldrons, students” Slughorn said, a whimsical tone to his voice. Delphini turned her eyes to her cauldron, doing as Slughorn had instructed. There was nothing distinct about it, and she was beginning to question why they were doing this at all. 

“Sure looks like a cauldron to me,” Dirk said sarcastically, at which Delphini grinned softly. She made sure to keep her reaction in check, so as to avoid any comments by Slughorn. Still, the fact that Dirk was trying to engage with her was a positive sign. 

The rest of the class seemed to drag on for Delphini, mostly introductory material and syllabus review. Dirk made a few more quips in Delphini’s general direction, at which she did her best not to react too strongly. As class ended, Delphini breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding extra attention from Slughorn on her first day. Potions was intimidating to her, and she wanted to do everything she could to get on the Professor’s good side. She stood up and waited for Dirk to gather his things, and she looked towards the door as she waited. The two made their way to the exit, and Delphini was almost over the threshold when Slughorn suddenly called out:

“Cresswell! Do you have a moment?” Delphini shot him a sympathetic glance as she went to wait outside, leaning against the wall as Dirk slinked back into the classroom. She watched other students pass by as she waited for Dirk, pushing herself back to standing as he emerged. 

“What did he want?” She asked, causing Dirk to spin rapidly towards her.

“Piscus! You waited for me,” He said, recovering quickly from the shock. He then remembered Delphini’s question. 

“It was so weird, he started askin’ me about magic and my family and stuff.” Delphini’s eyes widened. 

“Really? What did you say?” She asked as they began to walk. Briefly, she wished for the easy company of Elias. Some boys began yelling across the courtyard, but Delphini paid them no mind. Dirk seemed almost uncomfortable under the scrutiny, and Delphini shifted her eyes to the wall beside her. 

“I dunno, told him about where I’m from. He seemed real interested, though.” Delphini made a pensive noise. That was weird, why would Slughorn take such an interest in Dirk?

“That’s odd. Wizards are  _ very _ particular about their families, you know. ” The words had left her mouth before she could stop them, and she saw as Dirk seemed to crumple at her comment. They spent the rest of the walk in silence, the bustle of the students and faculty filling the awkward space between them. 

~~~

They reached transfiguration and after only a few minutes in the class, Elias decided that McGonagall was his favorite professor, despite the fact that he hadn’t actually met any of the others yet. She was quite stern, and he felt great satisfaction watching her reprimand annoying or disruptive students, as well as when she remarked to the class that they should “Pay more attention to Mr. Rosier, as he seems to be the only one of you who knows proper form.” Although, he also feared he would be quite bored for some time as he had already learned how to turn dormice into snuff boxes and beetles to buttons and so on, and in fact had once managed to turn one of his snakes, Nora, stark white for several hours. 

Their first assignment was to attempt to turn a rat into a goblet, which he achieved immediately to the applause of several classmates and one approving smile from McGonagall. Scarlette, on the other hand, was clearly not having such luck, although seemed very amused by the sight of a squirming half-rat-half-goblet, so much so that she toppled out of her chair in laughter. A handful of boys rushed from around the classroom to help her,  _ this is completely ridiculous, can’t they just leave her alone?! _

“She's fine! Shove off!” He helped Scarlette off the floor, McGonagall glaring the boys back to their seats. The bell rang and the two left quickly, Elias commenting on the fact that they had just a few moments before their next class, which was far in the east tower. 

A very bushy-haired man, who couldn't have been taller than the average house elf, stood on a pile of very old and dusty books, and introduced himself as Professor Flitwick. The pair sat down at a long table stretching the length of the room, next to a group of chattering Ravenclaws, the leader of which was a rather handsome blonde boy who kept glancing at Scarlette out of the corner of his eye. The professor began to talk about the curriculum. He was a nervous, jumpy little fellow and after a few minutes of listing spells Elias already knew, he completely tuned out the squeaking man and instead turned his focus to his classmates. Some Slytherins, but primarily Ravenclaws, the latter practically leaning over their desks with sincere intent, while the members of his own house stretched back in their chairs and counted the number of books the professor was standing on. He had an odd feeling that it was going to turn out to be quite a long day.


	7. Tangled in the Rose Thicket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions rise as the day continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW!!!!-- This chapter contains a panic attack, worsened by sensory hypersensitivity, as well as brief nondescript violence. If you are triggered by these topics, the section containing this will be labeled with *!!* and a summary of the section will be in the notes at the end of the chapter.

Once everyone, including Scarlette and Elias, had settled into Charms Flitwick looked around and began the lecture. He was speaking about the levitation charm, _Wingardium Leviosa,_ and Scarlette felt a pit form in her stomach. _I’ve been able to amaze Elias by showing him my natural magic, what’ll happen when he knows that I’m a bit of a failure with my wand magic?_

Sitting next to Scarlette was a blonde boy by the name of Gildroy Lockheart. He didn’t know anything about the girl he had been sat next to, but felt it appropriate to interrupt her discussion with her dark haired partner. 

“H’lo, sorry to butt in, my name’s Gildroy, what's yours?” Scarlette smiled politely at him, not looking at Elias who was stunned at the blonde’s blut intrusion.

“Hi, my name’s Scarlette, this is Elia-” She was promptly cut off by Elias, 

“Elias Toren Rosier.” Scarlette smiled at the blonde boy again and turned her attention back to Elias. 

“So, anyway I was thinking that during our pairing you could try first?” Elias nodded. 

“Yes, I can do that.” He lifted his wand confidently and was about to utter the phrase when he was cut off once more by Gildroy. 

“Sorry again, couldn’t help but notice it was just us three here and I think it would be lovely for us to work together!” Scarlette was ready to accept the boy, but Elias looked at the table behind them.

“Is there not a lone boy sitting over there? I could’ve sworn…” Scarlette followed his gaze and saw Brenda the Slytherin sitting with a dark haired Ravenclaw boy. Gildroy didn’t bother to look. He spoke obnoxiously loudly and said,when he spoke again,

“What say you, partners?” Scarlette looked expectantly at Elias. He reluctantly nodded and she said, 

“Of course, join us!” No sooner had the blonde accepted then chaos ensued. 

~~~

Delphini’s next class was transfiguration and, though they did not speak, Dirk remained beside her as they ascended the stairs to the transfiguration classroom. Delphini had an inch or two of height on him, but Dirk’s messy hair and Delphini’s tendency to slouch made them look about the same height. They were some of the last students to make it up the stairs due to Slughorn’s interruption. 

The classroom had a high ceiling, with a desk and windows at the front of the room. On the desk, a grey tabby cat with spectacle-shaped markings around its eyes surveyed the students keenly. Most of the children were already sitting, and Delphini took a seat in the middle of the room near the front, taking out her quill and parchment. She felt someone slide into the seat next to her, and looked up briefly to see Dirk taking out his own materials. Before she could say anything, however, the cat launched itself off of the desk and towards the students. Its features began to shift and morph quickly as it neared the floor, and soon Professor McGonagall stood in front of the rows of first years. She looked around the room before she began to speak. 

“Welcome to First Year Transfiguration. I am Professor McGonagall, and you will address me as such. This class will cover the basics of transfiguration, skills and spells. I trust you have all received and read the syllabus, and are prepared sufficiently for class today.”

She looked around the room at the students, who themselves shot several nervous glances back and forth between them. 

“Excellent. Please copy what is written on the board behind me, and once that is done we will begin our lesson.” Delphini immediately set to copying what was written, which was the definition of transfiguration along with a few examples. She liked McGonagall, she was much more direct than Slughorn had been. She seemed curt and strict, but fair. Delphini spared a glance over at Dirk, but he was thoroughly focused on copying the definition. She sighed. 

McGonagall was Delphini’s favorite teacher that she’d met so far. In the course of the lesson she transfigured her desk into a pig and back, transfigured a teacup into a rat, and transfigured a quill into a pocket watch. McGonagall taught the students some simpler concepts of transfiguration, and Delphini felt as though no time at all had passed before the lesson was over. She organized her notes as the other students began to shuffle out of the classroom. 

“Are you muggleborn?” Delphini’s hand paused halfway to her bag, and she looked up at Dirk. She quickly sat back up. 

“I- well, I’m a halfblood. My dad’s a wizard and my mum’s a muggle.” She said, voice growing more quiet as she spoke. Dirk looked at her for a second, then shrugged. It wasn’t graceful, but it was an olive branch. Delphini took it with relief. 

“We have a break, you wanna go down to the lake?” He asked, after a moment. Delphini thought about the proposition. 

“The lake? Why would we go down to the lake?” They walked out of the classroom, heading towards the stairs. 

“I dunno, seems cool.” Dirk said, simply. Delphini accepted the response, and the two continued down the stairs towards the lake. 

~~~

“Sorry again, couldn’t help but notice it was just us three here and I think it would be lovely for us to work together!” Gilderoy exclaimed and Elias’ wand paused in mid-air, _Merlin, save me if I have to work with this boy._ Elias decided that Gildroy’s shining curls and sparkling blue eyes were drowned by his pompous and _extremely_ annoying attitude. Scarlette looked ready to agree, but he wouldn’t accept defeat so easily, quickly scanning the room and seeing a Slytherin and Ravenclaw sitting just a few feet away, _I don't know them, he can be their problem._ Although Gildroy was relentless and Scarlette quickly caved. 

Elias was in the middle of the incantation when Scarlette yelped quietly, and he turned to see that Gilderoy had yanked hard on her long hair, _Merlin’s beard! Why won’t any of these children just grow up!_ Flitwick was on the other side of the classroom and Scarlette did not retaliate when Gildroy repeated the action. Elias internally groaned, _that’s certainly enough of that._

“Professor Flitwick! Could you say the incantation again?” He snapped, of course not actually needing to know, but just wanted the professor to turn their way. Flitwick quickly realized Gildroy had separated from his assigned partner and shooed him back to his proper place. 

They decided to take turns casting the charm, Elias doing it a few times easily and quickly, simply wanting to get it over with for a classwork grade. He noticed something peculiar when Scarlette cast the charm. The feather was softly and constantly moving up into the air, but her wand wasn’t following it. In fact, it lay limp in her hand pointing at the table. _Oh,_ he realized, _she’s not using wand magic_ — just to make sure, he gently pulled the wand out of her loose hand, but she was so focused on making the feather float she hadn’t even noticed. _How odd, why won’t she just use her wand? It would make for a much stronger casting if she did_ …

“You actually have to use your wand to learn wand magic,” he said, hoping that it sounded light and sarcastic, “and you do have to learn wand magic.” Oh Merlin, he hoped he hadn’t been wrong about her. Delphini wasn’t in most of his classes and he desperately needed a peer who could provide mental stimulus, or he believed he may as well rot. 

“I was! I was using my wand, you just distracted me, silly boy…” _Oh please, she can’t really believe I wouldn’t notice._

“Scarlette, I have your wand.”

“Elias, you should get your eyes checked! I’m clearly using it!” Scarlette exclaimed in defiance. _Merlin’s beard— it’s simply ridiculous at this point._ He clenched and released his jaw a few times, _don’t get angry, she’s done nothing wrong, don’t soil this—_

“But - you’re not even moving your wand,” he said, smothering his annoyance, “and when the feather does float, your wand doesn’t follow it… look _—_ ” he sighed slightly, “it’s alright if you don’t know it, there’s nothing wrong with that! Here _—_ _Wingardium Leviosa!”_ The feather lifted off the desk once more and flew nearly all the way up to the ceiling. He then proceeded to make it twirl throughout the classroom over several students' heads, most of whom stopped their work to watch, and Flitwick even let out a high-pitched “Bravo!”

He smiled a little at himself, but his pride quickly washed away when he saw Scarlette looking at the floor, shame etched on her face. 

“I’ve just never really been able to perform too much wand magic, it’s quite difficult, compared to my natural magic… gods, I’m hopeless…” _No no no no— ImsosorryIdidntmean—_

“You’re anything but hopeless, it’s just something you’re not used to. You’re at school! This is the perfect time to change your ways and learn new things! You just need a bit of practice.” He said it all rather quickly in one long panicked huff and with a nervously optimistic smile.

~~~

Scarlette smiled at him, happy that she had found a confidant, and said, 

“Maybe you could help me a little bit? No pressure, it’s completely understandable if you don’t want to, and maybe I’m jus-” Elias cut her off with a smile.

“Let’s go over the simple wrist movement again, I’m happy to help.” She practiced a couple times with him, occasionally making the feather rise wandlessly and getting gently scolded for it. Soon, they had worked up to the actual magic, and with just ten minutes to spare, Elias told her, 

“Alright, as we practiced _swish and flick,_ then loud and clear, _Win-gArdium Levi-Osa!_ ” Scarlette repeated the gesture and was able to get the feather to fly high above her head. She squealed in delight and hugged Elias. 

~~~

_She’s hugging me._ Elias didn’t quite know how to react and due to the odd way they were sitting, he decided it best that he simply stay still and wait for it to be over. _Then again,_ he thought, _there is something… she smells so warm and soft— no that can’t be right, physical adjectives like that can’t describe a non-physical sense— but either way, this is… nice._ A small genuine smile crept onto his face, he typically didn’t hug anyone often _—_ or ever _—_ and there was something about it that was just so comforting, _like a very heavy quilt or the smell of a brewing thunderstorm_ , he thought. Although, he clearly wasn’t exhibiting any signs of enjoyment as Scarlette quickly released him and shyly apologized.

“No need to apologize, it’s -- it’s fine!” He said with a smile that had just a bit too much wolf in it to be quite sheepish.

Soon the class was over and they descended the stairs to Herbology, joined by a crowd of Hufflepuffs. He quickly spotted Delphini walking with Dirk and ran to her.

“Hello! How were your first classes?” 

“Very nice! Potions was interesting, although I think Professor McGonagall is my favorite teacher—“

“Agreed! I had her first period, I can’t wait to learn about more complex transformations-“

“Hey Del!” Scarlette joined them, and smiled hello at Dirk who blushed violently before looking at the floor.

“We were just saying how McGonagall is the best teacher.”

“Oh — I don’t know, she’s a bit too serious…” Scarlette began quietly. 

“What? That’s what makes her the best!” Delphini and Elias exclaimed in unison before whipping around to look at each other and bursting out laughing. Dirk and Scarlette exchanged glances over the two. 

While Elias still missed his grayscale landscape of cold crashing beaches and wild sky-splitting cliffs, the stretching green mountains and vast sapphire loch were equal majesties. At home, the thorny blue-ish grass was patchy and dotted with thick multi-colored flower bushes and lichen, yet here the grounds stretched on and on as sparkling and emerald as the robes of Salazar Slytherin himself. Magic was steeped deep in the earth and it grew through the branches and leaves of every tree or flower, it flowed through the veins of every animal who dwelled there. 

~~~

Even in the daytime, the lake was vast and dark. They were outside of the castle, and the autumn wind went from slightly chilling to raw as the pair descended down the grassy knoll towards the surface of the water. It looked like a deep-cut sapphire, dark and enigmatic, and Delphini was absolutely fascinated by it. Few things truly caught her attention, as she had found in her years of muggle schooling. She was good at school, she got good grades and answered questions correctly, but few things had the ability to grab and keep her fixation. When they did, however, she became laser-focused on them. There had been a stint when she was nine during which she had learned about the concept of volcanoes, and she had gone through every book on them in her local library within fourteen days. What she felt on the grassy knoll, staring down into the impossible depths of the lake, was exactly that fixation. 

Her and Dirk stayed up on the hill for their whole break, both of them silently looking out over the vast body of water. The bond between them was young and fragile, but Delphini would take what she could get. Dirk seemed inclined to do the same, as they both took everything in, and as his shoulder came to bump softly against Delphini’s. She tensed for a moment, but soon settled back down. They let themselves stay that way, taking in everything they could about the vast and mysterious lake, shoulders resting together in a tenuous alliance. 

Their moment was broken by a tremendous noise from up the hill and Delphini turned to see students of all ages bustling to and fro. 

“It’s time to get to Herbology,” She remarked, not entirely present. Dirk silently nodded, and the two began their ascent of the hill. They were still somewhat early, so the walk to the greenhouse was leisurely and there was plenty of room for conversation. 

“Heard they’re making us re-pot mandrakes. Bloody loud, mandrakes are.” Delphini chuckled softly at his disgruntled tone. 

“You seem cranky. Have you worked with mandrakes before?” She asked, smiling as Dirk looked intently at the grass below him. After a moment, he spoke again. 

“No, I s’pose I haven't,” He grumbled. Delphini chuckled louder at his reply, and Dirk began laughing too. They approached the greenhouse, where a few Slytherin and Hufflepuff students were already milling around. They avoided each other like oil and water. Delphini paid the divide no mind, and began scanning the crowd for Elias. 

“I don’t see how you could make friends with one of these Slytherin blokes, they’re downright terrifying,” Dirk said from Delphini’s side. Elias wasn’t there yet, and neither was Scarlette. 

“Oh, some of them are alright. Not all of them are rude,” She said, pointedly ignoring the glare of a dark-haired Slytherin boy. 

“Still, they hate us. They think we’re _soft_ ,” Dirk said the word soft like it was offensive, at which Delphini merely smiled. 

“Well, what’s wrong with being soft? With everyone going around acting tough all the time, I’d think that being soft was actually pretty brave,” She said, causing Dirk to look at her in mild confusion. Before he could reply, however, Elias rushed over to the two. He was followed shortly by Scarlette. 

“Hey Del!” Delphini was surprised by the nickname, something which seemed entirely trivial to Scarlette. She’d never had anyone give her a nickname before besides her parents, and even then it was mostly for convenience. None of the few friends she’d made had ever called her anything other than her full name, if they had used names to address her at all. She smiled to herself. 

The four of them continued towards the greenhouse, Delphini absently looking out over the grounds. She halted abruptly, realizing the sudden absence of a presence beside her. She looked up to see Scarlette staring blankly out at the Forbidden Forest, eyes a dark and unseeing blue. Before she had time to question anything she found herself moving cautiously forwards. 

~~~

Scarlette walked out onto the lawn of Hogwarts, breathing in the fresh air. The forest was all the way behind a small shack, and while she was examining it, she stopped suddenly. Her vision was filled with lilac color, and her mind was wiped blank. All she could think about was the forest, and she felt herself slowly walking towards it. In her haze, she vaguely felt two arms guiding her back to the group. 

~~~

“Scarlette?” Delphini tried, to no response. She moved closer. The girl in question didn’t appear to be hurt, she was still standing and breathing just fine, she had just stopped walking. Delphini walked even closer, gently grabbing Scarlette by her arms and giving a light tug. She walked forward, stiffly. Delphini exhaled in relief, and began walking Scarlette back towards the group. Soon Scarlette blinked, an expression of confusion on her face. She looked over at Delphini, who was inspecting her for any possible injuries. She appeared to be completely fine. 

“Scarlette? Scarlette are you alright?” She questioned, tentatively. Scarlette looked over at where Elias was standing. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright, something just came over me-” She began, but was soon cut off by Elias coming over to check on them. 

“Hello, wha-” He said, before looking over at Scarlette. “Scarlette? Whatever is the matter?” He questioned, a vague tone of concern clouding the words. 

“I think Scarlette had a bit of a moment, but it’s alright now. Let’s get to herbology before it’s too late.” Delphini said, sensing Scarlette’s uneasiness on the subject.

As the group began to walk back towards the greenhouse, Delphini looked out across the lake and the forest again. They seemed to hold endless amounts of magic and endless amounts of secrets, an untapped wealth of mysteries and curiosities that made Delphini even more excited to begin to explore them. 

The dark-haired boy who had been glaring at her before came over to the group as they entered the greenhouse and Delphini did her best to ignore him. She focused her attention, instead, on Professor Sprout. She was the head of Hufflepuff house, and she definitely looked the part. She was a kind-looking, stout woman with bushy brown hair and deep amber eyes. She gave a large smile to the students as she began her lesson about mandrakes. Delphini tried to listen intently, as she found the material very interesting, but she kept getting distracted as the dark-haired boy harassed Scarlette repeatedly. At one point, the boy managed to wrestle Scarlette’s earmuffs away from her. Delphini rolled her eyes, picking up a new pair of earmuffs and handing them to Scarlette before passing behind Elias to stand in front of the boy. She noted, only slightly smug, that she was taller than him. He was scrawny, with beady brown eyes and limp, dark hair. 

Delphini was very talented in the arena of withering looks. She came from a family with a sense of humor drier than an asphalt road on a summer day, so she’d been practicing brutal sarcasm for as long as she’d understood what sarcasm was. This led to her seeming somewhat blunt and standoffish in her attempts at humor, but it also meant that she could make it extremely clear when she disliked someone. She had decided, in the course of the Herbology lesson, that she didn’t like this boy at all. He seemed mean-spirited, his beady eyes deeply unsettled her, and most importantly, he had distracted her and her friends from their lesson on mandrakes. Delphini generally had no patience for those who didn’t take school seriously, and she had even less patience for those who made themselves active nuisances in the classroom. Call her a teacher’s pet, she didn’t care. All she knew was that she liked learning and she cared for the wellbeing of those whom she considered friends, and this boy was directly disrupting both of those things. So, she fixed him with her driest, most withering, most _I-think-you’re-annoying-and-I-want-you-to-know-it_ glare and shoved him squarely in the middle of his chest. 

He was thin and light, and Delphini’s shove sent him sprawling to the greenhouse floor. His earmuffs tumbled off, and Delphini watched as the horrible shrill of baby mandrakes registered. She stood above him, earmuffs still firmly fixed on her own head, and watched with no compassion as the boy promptly passed out cold. She then turned sharply around and slotted herself right back where she had been, on the far side of Elias and Scarlette. She tried very hard to be empathetic, in general, but that boy looked like he came from the _worst_ kind of privilege. And so, however hard she tried to find it in her heart to be kind and good, Delphini felt no remorse for the beady-eyed boy as she resumed repotting her mandrake. 

The boy was quickly carried out of class, and soon Delphini and her friends were all laughing and joking over a wide range of subjects as they regaled one another with tales from their morning classes. Beady-eyed boy forgotten, Delphini found herself smiling once more. 

~~~

As they walked inside Crouch slithered over to them. 

“Hello there, _Hemmingway_.” Scarlette cringes at his use of her name. Elias stays silent, and she quietly walks into the greenhouse, trying to distance herself from the boy. Unfortunately, he follows her in and it dawns upon her that he’s in her class. She walks over to Elias and stands next to him, while Delphini is on his opposite side. Crouch slinks over to Scarlette and plants himself next to her. Just as he opens his mouth to speak, their teacher walks in. 

Scarlette recognizes her as the woman who was head of Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout. She was a stout, sweet looking woman who had a lovely beam of joy in her eyes. She opened the lesson by introducing the class about the mandrake, and from what Scarlette summarized, it was a sweet little plant baby that cried a little bit too loudly. As she tried to keep her attention on the lesson Crouch would flick her earmuffs, or try to pry them away from her. She would try to focus and ignore the slimy boy but he was slightly stronger than she was, and succeeded. At that moment, Delphini handed Scarlette a pair of new earmuffs and casually strolled over to Crouch. In one instant two very funny things happened; first, Delphini knocked Crouch to the floor, resulting in his earmuffs falling off, and next, the mandrakes were being taken out of the container they were in. Crouch heard the shrill screams and turned a shade of grey, before passing out on the floor. Scarlette rushed forward to help him, but was blocked by Elias who muttered, 

“He’s not worth it.” Elias muttered, still glaring at Crouch, Scar stood by her tall friend while Crouch was hurriedly carried out of the class. For the next hour they all had a lovely time, repotting plants and laughing about nonsense. Soon, the class was over and they all marched up to the castle, too elated to feel tired. 

It was lunch time, and they all hurried to the Hufflepuff table when the gang of Gryffindor boys surrounded them. 

“Scar, come join us, we’ve missed you!” James’ bright face poked between Remus’ and Sirius’ serious ones. Delphini watched the boys carefully, and when Sirius cheerfully smiled at her, avoiding Elias’ gaze, she said to Scarlette, 

“Go on, we’ll see you at dinner.” Scarlette immediately was swallowed by the gang of boys as they all walked merrily to the Gryffindor table. 

“So, Scar, how’s class been?” James asked her curiously. 

“Oh, this boy, Crouch, fainted during herbology!” Sirius and Remus stared at her. 

“You’re joking! What happened?” Remus then interrupted Siruis’ question by asking, 

“Was it the mandrakes?” Scarlette nodded. 

“They’re quite nasty…” Peter whispered. Scarlette whipped around to look at the boy. 

“No! They’re so sweet, they’re just-” Siruis and Remus intervened, 

“Ugly?” 

“Distasteful?”

“Borderline repulsive…?” 

Scarlette rolled her eyes at the pair. 

“I was going to say loud.” They all laughed at her and James said with a wave of his hand, 

“Scar, dear, who made you like this?” Scarlette laughed and then answered, 

“My parents, but I could ask you the same.” Sirius suddenly looked very sullen. 

“Speaking of parents,” He said with a nod to the Hufflepuff table, “You know whose parents have _some_ reputation around here…” Scarlette looked, and he was looking at Elias. 

“What do you mean?” She asked, curious. 

“Well, it’s said that they like to capture muggles and make a sport of them on their tiny island. Makes you think about why Rosier has those beasts he calls dogs.” Scarlette looked at him, her eyes flashing. 

“You know that I’m friends with him, why would you say such a thing? Secondly, he’s not got a private island you- you twat. His family lives on a small island that has a small muggle village. He’s not used his dogs for anything hunting related.” Remus layed a hand on her forearm. 

“Calm down Scar, Sirius was only joking, _weren’t you, Sirius_?” Sirius looks at Remus’ very serious face. 

“Yeah, of course Scar, relax.” Scarlette blushed. 

“I’m sorry, I just don’t like to hear you boys being cruel to a close friend of mine…” James and Peter nod. 

“Of course, Scar. He didn’t mean it.” She smiled at him, and the rest of lunch was spent peacefully, not talking about anything, but thinking about everything. 

~~~

***!!***

“Go on, we’ll see you at dinner!” 

Elias, Dirk, and Delphini, made their way over to the Hufflepuff table. Elias frowned as he watched Scarlette and her group at the Gryffindor table, he felt a gentle nudge on his elbow.

“So? What’s their problem?”

“Hm?”

“Well, at breakfast you told us about the Slytherins and Scarlette, what about the Gryffindors and Scarlette?” Elias looked at Delphini, slightly taken aback.

“Are you making fun of me?” Delphini’s face fell, clearly not registering her own tone.

“What? No—I—I’m sorry, I was genuinely asking, I didn’t mean it like that— I’m sorry—“

“Oh, it’s alright—I’m sorry, I was just confused—“

“No of course, it was completely my fault, you know I’m not so good at this—“

“Oh don’t say tha—“

“Okay please just get to the point, what’s up with the Gryffindors!” Dirk finally butted in, obviously realizing that this could have gone on for some time.

“Oh—yes—right, um, they were just saying some, er, things, about me…”

“Is that why you were so upset at breakfast?” _Oh, wonderful, so everyone noticed,_ he felt a blush rise in his cheeks.

“Er, y-yes, but it was nothing really… I was just being s-sensitive— it’s nothing.” He looked up and saw Scarlette’s entire group turn to look at him, “I—um, excuse me, sorry—“ Nausea was sinking back into his gut and he couldn’t stand another thirty minutes of that, if he had to wait in the bathroom until the end of the meal, he would. _She probably doesn’t really like you, they’re just using her to learn more about you or just want to trick you. She doesn’t really want to be friends with you, she doesn’t—why would she? Shut up shut up—walk faster—_ he clenched his hands and prayed the boys bathroom was empty. He opened the door just a crack to see if anyone was inside, a boy was standing at the sink washing his hands, so he crept into a stall and waited for him to leave. Once he heard the door close, he let out a long sigh, relishing the silence. He unlocked the stall door and went to splash some water on his face, he hadn’t been by himself in nearly two days and it was like he was finally coming up for air after being held underwater. The quiet was a lullaby, singing his nerves and mind to sleep, if he wasn’t in a public bathroom he would have simply slid down onto the floor, where he could pretend he was lying in a bed that was drifting through space, and the soft beat of his heart could root him to the blissful emptiness, he could be anyone and anywhere, in silence. A light smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as the back of his head rested against the cool tiled walls and water dripped from his eyelashes and the tip of his nose. In his head he hummed _Scheherazade, Op.35: 2. Lento_ , but only the slow part at the beginning, letting the tune twirl in his mind's eye. He didn’t notice the door open. 

~~~

“I—um, excuse me, sorry—“ Elias stammered, standing abruptly and walking out of the Great Hall. Delphini watched him go for a minute, a pit opening up in her chest. She turned slowly back to her food. 

“That went well,” Dirk said, after a minute or two of silence. Delphini looked up at him, eyes stinging slightly. Dirk looked panicked. 

“Wait, Are you crying?” He asked, sounding slightly frantic. Delphini willed away the lump in her throat with a bite of food. 

“No.” She said, flatly. Dirk looked slightly concerned, but eventually returned to eating with Delphini in silence. For the rest of the meal, he kept casting glances at the entrance to the Great Hall. Delphini shoved some grapes into her mouth. 

“So… Grapes, huh?” Dirk asked, one elbow leaning on the table. Delphini chuckled, but mostly at the absurdity of the question. 

“What?” She asked, a bit of laughter leaking into her words. Dirk shrugged, taking a bite of his sandwich before responding. 

“I dunno, figured it was worth a try.” He said, promptly returning his attention to his food. Delphini pondered the strange comment, before she realized what Dirk had been doing. He was trying to distract her by saying something ridiculous. She smiled softly, taking another bite of her food. 

They continued eating in relative silence until Elias returned, walking swiftly and stiffly back to their table and sitting down beside Delphini. She looked over at him, then up at Dirk. Elias’ attention stayed on his food, and Delphini hesitantly turned back to hers. Elias seemed nervous, at one point casting a glance up at the headmaster. Delphini and Dirk remained in tense silence, occasionally reaching across the table to steal a morsel or to serve themselves more of something. 

~~~

***!!***

“Rosier.” 

Elias’ eyes flew open to see Sirius leaning against one of the stall door frames, James standing, hands in pockets, behind him. He didn’t answer, instead straightening his tie and quickly going to walk past them, he would have to find another bathroom. As soon as he neared the pair, James stepped to the side, blocking Elias’ path. 

“Ya know,” Sirius began, “Scarlette really does seem to like you, she was truly _insistent_ that you were something worthwhile,” he paused, walking towards him, causing Elias to stumble backwards, “but me and James here—“ _it’s “James and I” —“_ know the truth.”

“What truth? Y-you don’t know me—“

“We don’t need to. You know what house I grew up in, you think I don’t know?” 

“Don’t know wha—“

“Where should I start?” He smirked, pushing Elias back even further until he hit the sink, “how about how you kidnap muggles to hunt them for sport?—“

“T-that’s not true!—I wouldn’t—“ _Is that what they’re telling people? Oh—what if Scarlette believes them — she can’t, she wouldn’t!_

“You know how I know you’re like them?” He jabbed his finger at the Slytherin badge on Elias’ robes, “See this?” He pointed to his own badge, “This is proof that I’m different, you could have been better like me, I honestly just feel sorry for you.” _Shut up shut up—I’m not—_ he felt heat rising in his chest and he bit down on his tongue. 

“I know more things, you know—“ Sirius continued, clearly desperate for a fight, “about how your father blackmailed halfbloods to keep them out of the ministry,” _He’s lying, he doesn’t know what he’s saying, calm down,_ “your grandfather experimented on muggleborns to try and—“ the faucet to Elias’ left was dripping slightly, and he focused on the sound, attempting to drown out Sirius’ voice, “I’m going to tell her, she won’t stay with you for very long, soon she’ll see that your just like the rest of them—“ _drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ “—I bet those animals you keep are just muggles that you decided to keep around for later—“ _drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _,_ “go on, do it, fight back,” _drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _,_ _drip,_ pause _, drip,_ pause _,_ “—and how your brother was a squib so they—“ something snapped. 

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!—“ Before he had time to register what he had done, Sirius was up against the wall, blood running from his already bruising nose. Elias’ looked down at his fist in shock, but his vision was quickly blurred by tears, “t-tha-that’s n-not true…” 

Elias rushed out of the bathroom, casting a quick spell to heal his knuckles, some of which had split, and drying his eyes with the sleeve of his robes. _You’re going to be in so much trouble for this— stupid stupid stupid—_ Reaching the Great Hall once more, he went and sat back down next to Delphini, determined on staying focused on his salad and turkey sandwich instead of looking up at the Gryffindor table. Although he soon felt eyes burning into him from another direction, and he turned to look at the front of the hall. Elias saw that the headmaster himself was staring at him; a piercing look partially shielded by the man’s spectacles, a look which filled him with the same uncomfortable feeling as the sorting hat. _They couldn’t have possibly told him already, oh Merlin, what if they have—_ he quickly looked away, knowing that it most likely looked more suspicious if he maintained eye contact, only a guilty person sits stunned. Elias only then realized that Delphini was trying to get his attention.

“Elias?” He turned to her, “the bell just rang, are you alright? I-I’m sorry if I spoke out of turn earlier, I didn’t mean to make you upset—“

“I—er—I’m alright, it’s nothing you did, promise.”

“You—um—you can talk to me about, you know, stuff.” She smiled weakly.

“I—” he looked around at the shifting crowds, “later, alright?” He looked down at the floor and she linked her arm in his.

“What class do you have next?” Her voice was low and soft, and he was thankful for it as it was able to drown out the chatter around him. 

“Potions,” his voice cracked slightly, “with Scarlette…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW summary: Elias sees James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Scarlette talking about him again and is succumbed by a panic attack. He goes to the bathroom to calm himself down and is followed James and Sirius. In the bathroom James and Sirius begin verbally abusing Elias, looking for a fight, and Elias ends up punching Sirius in the nose before running out of the bathroom. Elias is very dazed and confused afterwards because he never thought of himself as a violent person and is extremely nervous about what the repercussions will be in terms of school and his friends.


	8. The Slug and The Squid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delphini and Scarlette find out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW!!!!-- this chapter contains an extreme panic attack resulting in minor self harm (no reference to blood or gore). The section containing this will be marked with *!!* and a summary of the section will be in the notes at the end of the chapter.

Delphini looked around the spiral staircase, the soft golden light of the early afternoon illuminating the space. The only sounds were her and Dirk’s footsteps, and at least for now, she was glad for it. It seemed to her as though she always messed things up if she tried to talk, and though silences could be uncomfortable, they ensured that she couldn’t say anything wrong. The placid quiet in the staircase didn’t last for long, as they both reached the top landing. They were some of the first people to make it to class, and the rest of the students who were there were mostly keeping to themselves. Delphini decided to wait near the grand oak doors, watching as Dirk followed to stand beside her. She surveyed Dirk briefly, before seizing the rare opportunity for uninterrupted conversation. 

“Why do you follow me?” She asked, keeping her voice low so it didn’t echo too much around the high-ceilinged corridor. Dirk frowned at her. 

“Because you’re my friend,” He said, as if that were obvious. Delphini felt a small warmth bloom in her chest at the fact that Dirk considered her a friend, but she didn’t dwell on it or its implications. 

“But  _ why _ ? Why me?” She pressed, unsatisfied with Dirk’s previous answer. He looked at her incredulously, as if she’d grown another head. 

“Did you really ask why I’m your friend?” He asked, the ghost of a laugh clinging to his words like a thick fog. 

“Yes, yes I did.” Delphini replied, raising her chin and squaring her shoulders. Dirk chuckled at this. 

“Well, why aren’t you in Ravenclaw?” He asked, his tone bordering on condescension. Delphini narrowed her eyes at him. 

“I don’t know, the hat just put me in Hufflepuff.” She said, after a moment of consideration. Dirk’s posture eased slightly, and she felt some of the tension leave her own shoulders. 

“You’re bookish, incredibly smart, by all accounts it looks like you’d be just as well in Ravenclaw as you would here. And yet, here you are. That’s why we’re friends,” Dirk explained, causing Delphini to frown to herself. She was trying to decipher the meaning of Dirk’s explanation, and coming up short every way she tried. 

“We’re friends because I’m in Hufflepuff and not Ravenclaw?” She asked, after a moment. Dirk laughed at her question, and Delphini felt a moment of indignation. 

“No, you dolt. What I’m tryin’ to say is that there isn’t a good reason why, and there doesn’t need to be. We’re just friends. Now stop thinking so hard, I can hear the gears turning in your head from here.” He said, with an air of fondness. Delphini huffed, but didn’t protest. In the time that they’d been speaking, the corridor had become filled with more students. Delphini looked around at the students, mostly Hufflepuffs with some Ravenclaws scattered throughout. 

“You’re weird, you know.” Delphini said, matter-of-factly. Dirk raised his eyebrows in consideration. 

“No weirder than you,” He said after a moment had passed. Delphini wanted to raise the question of that morning, and why Dirk was acting so differently than he had the night that they’d met, but she didn’t want to push her luck. 

Just at that moment, the doors to the Charms classroom swung open. The air was permeated by the smell of parchment and old books, and there were benches on either side of the classroom. At the front there was a row of great windows and an old wooden desk, scattered with sheets of parchment. There was also a chalkboard filled with messy cursive, and a stack of leather-bound volumes, atop which sat a man who Delphini assumed to be Professor Flitwick. Her father had told her of Flitwick and his antics, and he looked just as Delphini had imagined in his stories. Flitwick was a short, intelligent-looking man with bushels of silvery hair and a long, straight nose. His face was half covered in more of the same silvery hair on his head, and on his nose sat a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles. Delphini subconsciously pushed up her own glasses as she stepped into the room. Flitwick’s bright eyes caught her own, and she felt almost scrutinized under his gaze. She hurriedly turned her eyes to the ground and walked further into the classroom. 

~~~

Elias ran his hand along the bricks and pillars of the dungeons as he wandered, dazed and alone, towards the potions classroom. All his adrenaline was gone, and it left him in the dust feeling as if his head was floating on a cloud but his feet were sinking deep in mud. The cool black stone was refreshing and he focused all he had on gentle sensation at his fingertips to keep him grounded. _I really hit him…_ _hard_ _. I’ve never hit anyone before… so much for meeting children my own age._ _Soon even Delphini will leave me… we’ve only known each other for a day, why wouldn’t she?_ Elias only half registered the loud gaggle of Gryffindors passing by, until one of them, who turned out to not be a Gryffindor at all, tapped him on the shoulder.

“Elias, love? What’s up, you look really out of it,” Scarlette smiled at him sweetly.

“I– “ he turned and saw James and Sirius glaring at him, “I’m fine, j-just a little tired-” Sirius interrupted him by forcefully grabbing hold of Scarlette’s elbow and attempting to drag her away.

“H-hey!” She managed to shake him off, “What on Earth—” Sirius and Elias made brief eye contact, and Scarlette looked back and forth between the two, clearly confused. 

“Common Scar, let’s go.” James said tightly. Peter stood behind James and Sirius, glaring at Elias as well, even though he didn't know why, and Remus suddenly seemed extremely interested in the small gaps between the flagstones on the floor. 

“I… I think I need to stay here,” her voice was small but defiant, “I’ll catch up with you-” Elias jumped slightly when he felt her take his hand in hers and squeeze it lightly, “I know what they say isn’t true. I promise.” He couldn't help but smile at that, and gently squeezed back, but in the back of his mind something said,  _ but she doesn’t know everything, if she did she wouldn’t be here. _

When they entered the classroom they were greeted by a rosy-cheeked and smartly-dressed professor whose thick fingers waved them all inside quite enthusiastically. The professor's demeanor seemed a comical contrast to the dark and grotesque atmosphere of the room-- green algae dripping from the walls which were lined with shelves cuttered by an assortment of jars and clay pots. Elias could not discern what was in most of them, and due to the strange smell which lingered with no clear source, he decided he was not eager to find out. Small square windows let through a greenish light, illuminating a thin veil of steam which hung low in the air. Several standing desks were placed in neat rows, each complete with four squat black cauldrons. Scarlette, still not having released his hand, pulled him over to two empty spots, beside another pair of Slytherins he did not recognize. 

“Welcome! Welcome, first years! I’m delighted to meet you all, I am the potions master, Professor Slughorn,” There was something about the jolly man which didn’t feel quite right to Elias; his smile was too wide and too sweet, his eyes glittered, but not with kindness, more like how a dragon’s would as he admired his golden hoard. Elias never liked sickly sweet people, but he disliked them even more if they were liars.

“Bear with me now as I read off the roll call-” He pulled a small scroll out of his pocket, occasionally stopping at certain students' names too– “Ah yes! Of course! I remember your sister-”or mother or brother or father or cousin “- yes! They were excellent!” He also had to often pause too– “Boys, settle down” – at a very specific four Gryffindors who were refusing to stop testing how close they could get to the small fire under the cauldron before a cooling charm would be necessary (except for one who simply rested his cheek on his hand and rolled his eyes at his companions with a slight smile on his face). It didn’t take long for Slughorn to snap and separate the boys to different tables, Sirius and Peter to one, Remus and James to another, specifically, Elias and Scarlette's. James scowled as he and Remus made their way over and he planted himself next to Scarlette, Remus on the opposite side, next to Elias. Slughorn continued to read out names, seeming a little deflated after so many interruptions.

“Elias Pendragon R-“ he paused for a very brief second as if he had to re-read Elias’ last name, “Rosier?” He raised his hand, Slughorn simply eyed him for a moment before continuing. Elias saw James shoot a look over at Sirius. Once attendance was finished, Slughorn reviewed the curriculum before telling them to all take out their  _ Book of Potions  _ by Zygmunt Budge.

~~~

Delphini settled at a bench near the front, with Dirk slotting in beside her. Across from them sat two Ravenclaws, a girl with dark hair to her shoulders and a boy with sleek blond curls and deep blue eyes. Delphini gave the girl a hesitant smile, and the girl returned it. Professor Flitwick introduced himself to the class and briefly reviewed what would be covered in the course, and then began to teach the first incantation. It was, as Delphini had hoped,  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ . The levitation charm. Flitwick instructed the class to mime the motion of the spell with their wands, and Delphini did so dutifully. Her wand, she thought as she repeated the motion of the spell, looked far too large for her hand. After a minute or two of miming, Flitwick instructed the class to try the spell out on the feathers in front of them. The room burst into chatter as students began talking with their friends, and Delphini herself turned to look at Dirk. She giggled as he struggled to get the feather more than a few wobbly inches from the desk. 

“What’s so funny?” Dirk asked, though not with any real hostility. Delphini tried to reign in her giggles. 

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that you keep fumbling the motion right at the end,” She said, still laughing softly. Dirk looked at her expectantly. 

“Look, it’s like this,” She chuckled, casting the spell quickly. The feather lifted off the desk quickly, flying almost two meters into the air before settling itself back down on the desk in front of Delphini. Dirk’s eyes were wide as he looked back to his own wand. After a moment, he tried the charm again. Surely enough, his feather lifted itself off the desk and into the air. He smiled, and turned to face Delphini. 

“Look at that! It went right up!” He was beaming, even as the feather fell onto the desk in front of him. Delphini giggled again. Dirk seemed genuinely delighted at his accomplishment, and Delphini realized that it was the least guarded she’d seen him since they’d met. Flitwick nodded at them, a move of affirmation that meant that they had done the work and were free to relax. Dirk clearly saw the gesture too, dropping his wand on the table and relaxing in his seat. 

“Those Slytherins seem like a lot of trouble.” He said, unprompted. Delphini turned to look at him, feeling vaguely indignant.

“Why would you say that?” 

“Well, it’s our first day and they already seem to have formed opinions about all of us.” Dirk’s voice was casual, despite the deeply troubling implications of his words.

Delphini frowned, her brow furrowing in thought. “How do you know that? You’ve barely interacted with them.” 

“Neither have you,” Dirk now sounded teasingly condescending. 

“Your claim is weak and your supporting evidence is nonexistent.” Delphini was actively grinning, and Dirk shoved her shoulder gently, chuckling as he did. 

“You’re ridiculous,” The words carried no venom. Delphini began to respond, but was cut off by Flitwick attempting to quiet the class and continue his lesson. Delphini, pointedly ignoring muttered jokes and comments from Dirk, did her best to focus on taking notes. 

When the bell rang, she hurriedly grabbed her things and she and Dirk began leaving the class, neither of them noticing the scrutinizing glare that Flitwick gave to their retreating forms. 

~~~

She and Elias walked into the classroom together and she steered him away from the Gryffindor boys. They sat at the end of the classroom near two of her dorm mates. The teacher walked in, and immediately Scarlette perked up. This didn’t feel right. He was a rather sweet man on the outside, he smiled at the group of students, but all she felt was a shiver go through her body. It was like he was a serpent, and she was a dove. She tried to focus on what he was saying, but she only caught a couple words. She had never felt such distrust about a human, especially not an adult. He rambled about roll call and occasionally spoke about siblings and old times. She noticed that when he read out Elias’ name he paused, read it again and eyed him very closely. 

“Boys, settle down.” This was directed at the Gryffindors, and soon he separated them, and James and Remus joined Scarlette and Elias. James plopped himself next to Scarlette while Remus sat with Elias. James glared at Elias as he approached, but smiled when he situated himself next to Scarlette. 

They were supposed to make the wiggenweld potion, a sort of test, and they set to work. Occasionally James would mutter something about Elias, but Scarlette ignored him. She looked over and saw Elias helping Remus with potions and smiled. James, upset that the attention had been taken off of him, knocked over a bit of water. 

~~~

“I want you all to turn to page 34 of your textbooks,” Elias flipped to the page, written neatly in the top right corner was:  _ Wiggenweld Potion _ . “Now, you will all be learning this potion more officially in about a week or so, but I like to start out a new batch of students knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are— so, you are all to  _ individually  _ work on brewing this potion, this will not be submitted for an official grade although I will be studying each and every one. I can offer answers to basic questions but that is all, do not feel too anxious, your time starts… now!” Slughorn then promptly went behind his desk, flipping a large hourglass filled with small emerald crystals. 

“Oh Merlin…” Lupin muttered as he looked over the ingredients and instructions with dismay. 

“W-what’s wrong?” Elias said in a hushed voice, he feared that if James saw him talking to Remus he would dump the cauldron over his head.

“I’m bloody rubbish at potions, my mum was really good, she always tried to get me into it but I just couldn’t. I don’t even know where to start.” He ran his hands through his neat hair, clearly Slughorn’s words of not feeling anxious had completely gone over his head.

“Here,” he went back through the ingredients list, memorizing it, “I’ll go get the ingredients for the both of us, I was taught the basics of potionmaking and potioneering so I-I can help you— if you want, that is…” Remus beamed at him and Elias smiled back softly before rushing over to the supply closet and grabbing armfuls of ingredients. He came back to the table, and quickly organized the ingredients into two rows, one for himself and one for Remus, while quietly reciting each ingredient name to himself.

“Wiggentree bark, moly, dittany, horklump juice, flobberworm mucus,” Remus cringed slightly at that one, “Chizpurfle fangs, billywig sting slime, mint, boom berry juice, stewed mandrake, honeywater, sloth brain mucus,” This time Remus fully gagged, “moondew, salamander blood, lionfish spines, unicorn horn, and wolfsbane.” 

“How on Earth do you remember all that? Have you made this potion before?” Remus questioned, looking at Elias impressed.

“Hm? Oh, no, I haven’t made this one. I just— I can remember things like that easily.” 

“Like a photographic memory?”

“No, I um, I count each syllable, and I guess— I don’t really know how to describe it— I place emphasis on each one in my head, so that it forms a sort of rhythm that I can then repeat and memorize… it sounds strange when I say it out loud like that—“

“No— that’s actually really impressive!” Remus smiled again, the compliment making Elias’ stomach tighten into a knot, although for the first time the sensation was not entirely unenjoyable. 

“Oh. Um… t-thanks,” he smiled weakly at him before looking back down at the textbook and feverishly reading the instructions.

After several minutes, Elias’ potion had turned a vibrant indigo, while Remus’, who had been going a bit slower, was still turquoise. Slughorn was walking around the class, peaking over the edges of students' cauldrons, when he approached their table.

“Hmm… too much salamander blood, Mr. Potter,” The professor said after sniffing James’ potion, and then moving onto Scarlette’s, “you’re going to want to work a little faster Ms. Hemmingway, same goes for you Mr. Lupin.” He rounded the table, and raised his manicured eyebrows at the contents of Elias’ potion, “that’s looking very nice Mr. Rosier, now add more Salamander blood before the potion overheats.” Elias felt the professor pat him firmly on the back.

“Yes sir.”

After adding several more ingredients and letting it sit for quite some time (during the waiting time, Slughorn made them all take rather extensive notes on the properties of wolfsbane and the etymology of the name “wiggentree,” and Elias was reminded as to why he hated academics), they bottled their finished potions to bring to the front of the class. Elias handed his vial to Slughorn just as the bell rang, but the professor stopped him.

“Rosier, would you mind staying back for a moment, I’ll give you a lateness pass.” Elias nodded and walked back over to Slughorn’s desk.

“Is there something you wanted Sir?” He hoped this wouldn’t be too long, he hated being tardy, or being early, he wanted to be exactly on time no matter the context. 

“Oh, not really, I just recognized your last name — Your father is Evan Rosier, yes?”

“Y-yes, Sir.”

“I have some good friends in the ministry, who I believe are also friends of your fathers, do you know the name Saul Croaker?”

“Yes Sir, he and his wife would come to dinner sometimes.” Elias was finding it difficult to understand why this questioning was taking place, or how his father’s work friends had any importance to him.

“Yes! Saul is an old friend of mine, as well as Eloise Mintumble, don’t know if you know her, a pupil of mine actually! Merlin’s beard, it feels like an awful long time ago now, but yes! She often spoke of her interest in working in the Department of Mysteries you know, so glad she finally made it in!” Elias was starting to feel rather uncomfortable, if there was anything he was bad at it was small talk, it’s why he hated (or one of the many reasons he hated) parties. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I have heard of her, Sir.”

“Ah well, that’s alright, I might ask her to come and visit, I’m sure she’d like to meet you! Oh, and before I forget,” Elias had the strange feeling that the professor hadn’t forgotten anything, he was simply waiting for the right moment, “I have a group, a sort of club, for students who I think show real potential. I help these students to acquire the proper skills and connections to go far, no matter their interests. I think you would be a stellar new addition Mr. Rosier.” He smiled down at Elias,  _ it seems only right to accept, _ he thought,  _ but I still can’t quite tell if I like this man or not and I’d rather not enter into some kind of club without being entirely sure… _

“Oh, er, well, thank you, Sir. I’ll think about it! Although I really must go to class now-“

“Yes! Yes! Of course, here you are.” A small piece of parchment appeared in Slughorn’s hand which he gave to him before Elias rushed out of the classroom. Perhaps Slughorn himself wasn’t all so bad, but the idea of being invited to an elite club solely because his father works in the Department of Mysteries irked him. He hated the fact that since he arrived, more than half of the people he met immediately formed an opinion on him after hearing his last name. He left most conversations feeling as though nothing he could say would matter would change an image of him they already decided on and  _ Merlin’s beard it’s only my first day…  _

~~~

Scarlette and Remus walk up a winding staircase to the defence against the dark arts class, taught by Professor Pallando. As they walked, Remus said to her, 

“I realise that James and Siruis come off a little strong, and I know I haven’t known you for very long, but they really do want what’s best for you, I think James fancies you…” Scarlette blushed profusely. 

“Oh, please, I’m sure he doesn’t. I was pleased to see that you and Elias get on, it’s quite sweet.” Now it was Remus’ turn to blush. 

“Oh, you know- I - mean, I’m not sure if I would say that - I just - he’s… nice.” They continued walking, and Peter scurried up to them. Remus eyed him cautiously, and asked, 

“Where’d you come from, Pettigrew?” Peter awkwardly shrugged. 

“I was walking behind you two, Scarlette,” He turned his attention to her, “Your ankles are exquisite!” Scarlette recoiled from the boy and said quietly, 

“Thank you…” Remus stepped in and glanced at Peter, making the boy shrink behind them and stop talking. 

“I’m quite excited to learn some defensive charms, I’m quite good at them with my wandless magic!” Remus beamed at the small girl and before they walked in Elias rushed towards her. 

“Come, let's sit over here…” He led her over to a table far away from the Gryffindor boys. She waves bye to Remus as she’s pulled away and they sit quite close to the front. 

Professor Pallando walked to the front of the room and surveyed the students. His gaze mixed on Scarlette and it felt like his eyes were studying her very being. Quickly, the strange moment passed and he watched the rest of the class. 

As the period passed Scarlette felt a vague sense of foreboding, and occasionally she felt a note get passed in her direction, but they were never for her. She also felt the boys behind her whispered about something, and she was worried it pertained to her. They began to learn about the knockback jinx, and again, Scarlette was hopeless. She could topple things with bursts of air, but could barely manage to topple a small piece of parchment with her wand. She sighed discouragingly, and James popped up next to her. 

“Hey, uh, Scar, I’m sure I could help you with that…” Scarlette looked at him and said, 

“Alright, can you stand right there.” She gestured to an empty space in the middle of the room, he obeyed. She focused, and felt the room melt around her. It was only her and James. She focused her power on the tall dark haired boy standing in the middle of the classroom and began to lift her wand. Slowly, the look of realization began to dawn on his handsome face and he began to step backwards, but she, alas, was too quick for him. 

“ _ Flipendo _ .” She spoke the jinx very softly and a light blue flashed from her wand as the poor boy toppled over. Immediately the look of victory vanished from her features as she hurried to the boy who was lying on the ground. To anyone else, he looked very okay and not hurt in the slightest, but in her concerned haze she stepped towards him and he lashed out his leg, standing up with a smirk on his face as the small girl fell to the floor. 

Elias swooped in from the side and caught her carefully as if she was made of glass. James glared at the boy while he adjusted his robes and Scarlette beamed at him, which caused the injured party to glare harder and walk back to his group. 

~~~

Their next class had Delphini and Dirk running down seemingly infinite staircases in an attempt to reach the basement in time. Their footsteps echoed loudly back to them in the dark, cramped stone hallways of the basement. Delphini was out of breath, but the prospect of being late- to  _ potions _ , no less- kept her legs moving consistently. She had not been particularly athletic in her younger years, nor was she particularly athletic now. All around, Delphini Piscus and running were two things that simply did not go well together. It was most likely due to this fact that Delphini found herself coughing and wheezing as her and Dirk sat down at one of the desks near the middle of the room. While they took their seats, Dirk gave her a firm thump on the back that halted her coughing for long enough that she could suppress it. She shot him a grateful smile, and he nodded in return. 

Slughorn wasted no time in resuming his teaching, picking up from his earlier class by giving a brief lesson on the wiggenweld potion and its applications. Delphini dutifully took notes, the gentle  _ scritch-scritch  _ of her quill against the parchment helping to calm her from the adrenaline-filled dash her and Dirk had made down to the basement. Slughorn then instructed them to brew the wiggenweld potion, and that’s where Delphini’s problems began. She knew she didn’t have a talent for potions, but she still dutifully scampered over to the cluttered shelves filled with ingredients as Dirk reviewed the instructions, ignoring as some of the taller boys refused to pass her ingredients from the upper shelves. After a few minutes and some deliberate elbowing, Delphini returned triumphantly to their desk, ingredients in hand. She then set to weighing everything they would need, passing each quantity off to Dirk after it was measured and double-checked. Dirk did most of the actual brewing, Delphini too nervous to try for herself. On the one occasion she did actually try to add an ingredient to the cauldron, the mixture began to bubble ominously. 

“I don’t think that’s supposed to happen..” Dirk said, his tone teasing. Delphini huffed at him. 

“I know it’s not supposed to happen, I just can’t figure out how to make it stop.” She said, a light sheen of anxiety covering her voice as she spoke. She really didn’t want to mess this up, especially because Slughorn didn’t really know her yet. Dirk seemed to sense her worry, because he batted her hands aside after a moment. 

“Give it here, you prat.” He said, his voice betraying fondness despite the insult. Delphini let Dirk work, watching as he added various ingredients bit-by-bit until the mixture had settled back down. Delphini let out a relieved exhale, and grinned at Dirk. They spent the rest of the lesson making quips and Delphini prided herself on not saying anything too horrible for the duration. Slughorn ended up complimenting them on their brew, and Delphini took note of the way Dirk’s chest puffed up subtly at the attention. 

And then, just like that, Potions was over. Despite the fact that it was still the first day, she felt as though Delphini could already envision a comfortable routine of cycling through the classes. She reflected on the whirlwind of her day and how much had happened in such a short span of time. She smiled over at Dirk, who then proceeded to say the most un-Dirk-ish thing he could’ve possibly said. 

“I’m gonna do some reading on potions in the library. I’ll catch you in the common room, yeah?” Delphini blinked multiple times, thinking that she may have mistook someone else for her friend. She hadn’t, and Dirk with all his strawberry-blond charisma was still standing right there in front of her. 

“...Sure, I’ll be down by the lake if you need me.” She said, still slightly dazed as Dirk gave her a quick nod and split off to go to the library. Delphini figured that she’d better make good on her promise, and headed off towards the lake. 

~~~

Taking the stairs double at a time, he eventually reached the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. Walking inside he was greeted by the entire class turning to look at him as he had apparently interrupted roll call. 

“Ah, you must be Mr. Rosier,” the stout curly haired professor said with a sarcastic seeming glare.

“Y-yes Sir,” he said quickly making his way across the classroom, flushed, “I -er- I have a pass from Professor Slughorn-” he heard a few students giggle to themselves and he ducked his head to stare at the floor.

“Hm? Oh, yes, very good, thank you - there appears to be a seat next to Ms. Hemmingway, please sit.” Elias rushed to sit down, nearly tripping over himself. Pallando finished roll call and announced that he didn’t like to waste time explaining curriculums (although he did pass out rolls of parchment to everyone with information on the topic), and instead preferred to “jump right into it.” After having the class read select passages from  _ Dark Forces: A Guide To Self Protection _ , and the professor gave a brief demonstration, the students were encouraged to practice the Knockback Jinx on eachother (after being ensured that no true harm would come to them).

Elias had never studied defense against the dark arts, it was the one field his parents had forbidden him from being tutored in. They had never outwardly explained why, although he had overheard an argument between them one night after he had asked for the third time. Now, he was standing by himself in the corner of a classroom with absolutely no idea what to do. This wasn’t how he had learned with his tutors, he felt oddly exposed, and Scarlette had abandoned him for James and Company, so he had half the mind to simply sit down and read for the remainder of the period. He could very well learn the spell later in the common room, without so many people possibly judging him, in fact he believed he could learn it much easier. There were so many people chattering and falling over, sudden bangs or shrieks, and it all rattled around in his brain blocking all ability for thought or concentration. He even considered casting a quieting charm on the room, although he realized people would most likely become very confused as to why they were suddenly unable to do anything except whisper. 

~~~

Scarlette giggled as she rejoined the table, and Professor Pallando gave her an approving smile. Elias also gave her an approving look. 

“Well done, love! That was very impressive, who said you weren’t good at wand magic?” She lightly punched the approving boy, saying, 

“I did, and it’s true, I don’t know what came over me! I feel awful… I should… bake him cookies or something…” Elias suddenly looked quite cold. 

“You’re joking I hope, who's to say he didn't deserve it…” Scarlette fake-laughed at his comment, more than slightly confused as to what he could mean. 

“Perhaps I’ll write him a tiny note, just to apologize, or… wait, I know!” Scarlette made up her mind and marched over to James. 

“Mr. James Potter?” She inquired. 

“Yes, Miss. Scarlette Hemmingway?” He stood taller as she approached. 

“I’d like to sincerely apologize for my heinous actions. I do hope you can forgive me?” He bowed at her words and answered, 

“Of course, but only on one condition.” She looked at him curiously and asks,

“What is your condition Mr.Potter?” He smiled wickedly. 

“You must hand deliver a note to the Gryffindor common room, which I must then accept.” Her eyes glittered mischievously.

“Of course, Mr.Potter.” What she missed once she turned away was an attempt to grab her by Sirius. She sauntered back to Elias who gave her a disapproving glance. He said to her, 

“Scarlette, I hope- I hope that you won’t do that.” She smiled at him. 

“Of course not. Let him stew in his own juices. He doesn’t deserve my apology.” Elias laughed, seeing a glimpse of the girl’s darker side. They began to gather their books because they were going to meander over to the lake before dinner. Elias didn’t know it yet, but Scarlette and Delphini were planning a small foodless picnic for the trio. 

They marched down the stairs together ceremoniously, Elias completely unsuspecting of the evening that was in store. As they walked to the Great Hall, Scarlette pulled Elias outside. 

“Scarlette, that very much isn't the way to dinner-” Scarlette shushed him and tugged him all the way outside. They walked onto the green lawn and saw a blonde tallish figure standing on a small hill, and Scarlette rushed to join her. 

~~~

The lake was just as alluring, if not more so, than it had been earlier in the day. The rose blush of the sunset sky reflected on the glassy waters, the deep black underneath only showing on the undersides of waves and ripples. Delphini walked down the grassy banks, through the cool air, and right to the edge of the water, staring absently across its surface. She looked around quickly, ensuring that nobody was watching her, and stepped even closer. The water seemed… alive, somehow, and as Delphini leaned in she could swear she heard faint whispers. Her head snapped up, looking for the source of the noise, but there were no students nearby. What she did see, however, was a slight disturbance in the middle of the lake. It was some large  _ thing _ , and it appeared to be right below the surface of the water. Delphini leaned in closer, trying to get a look at whatever it was. It appeared, as part of it briefly stuck up above the water, to be a massive tentacle. Delphini remembered her father briefly mentioning a squid in the lake, but the scale of this thing was absolutely unbelievable. She narrowed her eyes at the tentacle as it retreated into the depths, and resolved to do more research.

She walked away from the water a bit, up the grassy slope to a point that her and Scarlette had agreed upon in herbology. It had been more of a passing thought spoken aloud than anything else, but the two had wanted to catch a break before dinner and had ended up agreeing to a no-food picnic on the grounds. Scarlette had said that she’d take care of getting Elias to go, and Delphini figured that meant there was nothing for her to do besides wait. She occupied herself by standing on the hill and watching the lake, thinking over the past twenty four hours of her life as she did. 

In that time she’d made three new friends, almost un-made two of them, got back on solid ground with those two, and made contact with the giant squid living in the lake. Her head spun as she thought about all that had happened, and she started to feel a bit woozy. She wasn’t accustomed to interacting with so many of her peers in one day, and she found herself a bit astounded that so many people had decided that she was tolerable company. 

It was at this moment that Scarlette bounded up beside her, and she smiled gently at her friend. She turned around to greet Elias, who was standing a few meters away, looking amazed at their small set up. Really it was just a blanket for the three of them to sit on, but still Elias cracked a grin. 

~~~

“He doesn’t deserve my apology,” Elias laughed, he didn’t expect Scarlette to be so intransigent to the boy who followed her around like a puppy. 

“You did a very good job in Defense Against The Dark Arts, I think you’re much better than you think.”

“Thank you very much, Sir!” She replied with an uncharacteristically wicked grin. Scarlete marched him down the stairs with a cortina gleam in her eyes. He shot her occasional wary glances, suddenly very nervous about whatever they were obviously hiding,  _ why does she keep looking at me like that? What is she going to do? Mug me? _ She pulled him past the Great Hall and his confusion grew.

“Scarlette, this very much isn’t the way to dinner-“

“Oh hush we have a break before then.” Scarlette brought him out onto the expansive lawn, where he quickly noticed Delphini waving at them from the top of a small hill. She was beaming and almost jittery when she said,

“LET’S PLAY TAG! No ones ever played tag with me before and I saw the lawn and I want to play tag!” Scarlette gasped and her face lit up.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Scarlette was bouncing on her heels with excitement, “Who's gonna chase first?”

“Er—I don’ know-“

“Should we just do nose-goes?”

“Okay! One, two, thre—“

“Wait wait wait—“ Elias stood there watching the two, flushed with confusion and the feeling of being definitely let out of some loop, “What’s ‘tag’? A-and what’s ‘nose-goes’?” Scarlette and Delphini looked at him like he had suddenly sprouted an extra arm.

“Ya know, like, the game tag,” Scarlette said, seemingly quite perturbed that anyone couldn’t know such a game.

“No I heard you, I just don’t know what that is.”

“Oh common, yes you do! It’s the game where one person chases while everyone else runs around trying not to be caught! You  _ must’ve _ played it with your friends when you were little.” Scarlette had her hands on her hips, as if this was simply the most obvious thing in the world. Elias didn’t quite know how to tell her that he didn’t exactly have friends when he was little, and the only games he played with was the occasional wizards chess with his mother. 

“I—er — n-no not really… Can you please just tell me how to play?” 

“Um, okay,” Scarlette realized he was serious, “well one person is the tagger or ‘it’ and they chase around everyone else, if you get tapped by the tagger then you become ‘it’ and you have to chase everyone else and try to tap them.” 

“Oh! Alright then, well, I can chase first if you like,” He smiled, “just give me a moment.” He unhooked his cloak from around his neck and cuffed the hem of his trousers, “should I give you a few moments to begin running or do we just start?” Elias looked up to see Scarlette and Delphini were already high-tailing it away from him. 

~~~

Soon, Delphini and Scarlette were scampering away from Elias, who was chasing the duo. They were all laughing and falling and running, making the most of their evening. Scarlette felt the breeze flow through her hair and quickly felt herself getting uncomfortably hot. She slid off her robes and was left in her uniform. She and Elias teamed up to run after Delphini and successfully caught her, which left Scarlette as the target. She squeaked when she figured out that they were after her and sprinted away from them as quickly as she could. Soon, Elias’ long legs caught up with her and he tackled her down a hill, laughing all the way. He was next in their game, so he gathered himself quite quickly and took off. After that it took the girls quite a while to catch up to him, he was at least twice Scarlette’s height, and taller than Delphini by a couple inches. 

When they finally did, both the girls ran off, closer to the lake, and Elias followed. Scarlette smiled to herself, she and Delphini had a small plan that they had hatched during herbology, where they brought a small blanket to the grounds and prepared to relax before dinner. They cleared the small hill obstructing the blanket and ran over to it, Scarlette summoning her robes from the other side, and Elias, who was winded, broke into the biggest smile Scarlette had ever seen him make. 

~~~

“This is- lovely- thank you!” Elias beamed at the girls, breathing heavily, “It’s quite like hunting, well sort of, it’s a similar set of skills at least, with less, you know, d-dead animals… ” He knew it was the wrong thing to say just moments after it left his mouth and watched Scarlette’s face fall slightly.

“So… you do hunt?” She said quietly, the hurt evident in her voice. Delphini looked up at him confused.

“W-wha — no! No no no — N-not like that, just game!”

“Hunting people isn’t a game...” Scarlette stood up, away from Elias, fear clouding in her eyes.

“ _ What _ ?!” Delphini cried now glaring at Elias as well.

“NO— I hunt  game! Deer, fish, rabbits — it’s called ‘game’! I would never hunt people! And no one in my family hunts people! And I don’t hunt for sport! Everything I capture I have the house elves cook with!” His heart was racing, and not from the running,  _ she’s really so quick to believe them…  _ tears were pooling in his eyes,  _ I’m not that way, I promise, please please believe me _ . The looks on their faces faded.

“But why would you hunt animals in the first place, you can get food from other places,” Scarlette said softly, “y-you’re killing animals-“ her voice was so quiet he could barely hear it. Delphini’s eyes bounced back and forth between them.

“What do you think a farm does? A farm kills animals, in a less humane way then I do! I find an adult beast who has lived its life in the wild, kill it quickly, and then use it’s body in a meaningful way — also it’s quite relaxing. I-I promise I don’t— please trust me.” He sighed with a calm voice but begging eyes.

“I—I trust you…” Elias felt a hand envelope his, and looked down to see Delphini, staring up at the pair, holding both their hands. She quickly yanked them both down to the ground.

“I have no idea what that was about,” Delphini smiled, and for some reason Scarlette burst out laughing. 

“I’m sorry Elias,” she said through her laughter, “I suppose that was rather ridiculous of me. Merlin's beard — I've been warned about more people these last two days than my entire life!” Elias chuckled at that.

“It’s alright, I understand.” He sighed.

“Scarlette,” Delphini piped up again, “I think you were right, we have certainly all had quite a day and this was definitely needed.” After a few moments of vague awkwardness they fell back into pleasant conversation, flitting through their classes and whatnot as topics. At some point, as Elias was mid-sentence mind you, Delphini made them all jump.

~~~

“Oh! It’s Squid!” She exclaimed, after a moment of careful observation. The squid in question seemed friendly, though Delphini wasn’t entirely sure. 

“What’s Squid?” Elias asked, unfamiliar with Delphini’s naming system. She’d begun to call the squid in the lake just Squid (With a capital ‘s’) to avoid having to mentally say every word of “the squid in the lake” each time she wanted to refer to it. 

“Oh, there’s a squid in the lake. I’m trying to make friends with it, and I think I’ll try to sneak it some food later on. It seems quite sweet, really.” She explained after a moment, still watching the ripples carefully. They receded, and Delphini turned her attention back to her friends. 

“Oy, maybe I’ll tag along, I’d like to meet Squid. That’s wicked, Del!” Scarlette said, grinning widely. Delphini smiled at her, and the three fell into a brief lull of silence. 

“Y’know, I think we should make a deal!” Scarlette continued in the absence of a verbal response. Elias looked up at her curiously. 

“What kind of deal?” He asked, wary. Delphini looked over at Scarlette, now intrigued.

“An important  _ friendship _ deal— let's make an  _ unbreakable vow. _ ” Scarlette’s voice laced with melodrama, it caught Delphini’s attention, and she narrowed her eyes. 

“I don’t think any of us are qualified to perform those.” She said, watching as Scarlette shrugged at the comment. 

“And even if we were,” Elias chimed in, “we met yesterday, we’re eleven, and unbreakable vows kill people. So, no.”

“Maybe we could make it unbreakable later, but for now, we could promise?” Scarlette smiled softly, and Elias returned the expression. 

“Well, don’t keep us waiting, what are you proposing?” Elias asked, prompting Scarlette to explain. Delphini leaned in slightly, wanting to hear the terms of the agreement. 

“We should vow to never break each other's trust. This trio should be family. No secrets, no snakey behavior,” Scarlette and Elias chuckled in unison, “what I mean by that is no betrayal. This should be a triad of unbreakable trust and,” Scarlette paused, face growing serious. “Love.” She finished, and looked out at Delphini and Elias. Delphini immediately began dissecting the terms of the pact as best she could, picking it apart for any vicious hidden clauses. After concluding to her satisfaction that the pact seemed innocent in its intent, she nodded at Scarlette. Her and Scarlette then turned their attention to Elias, who still seemed unsure of whether he should agree. After a few more beats of consideration, he cleared his throat as a signal for Scarlette to continue. 

“Are we in verbal agreement?” She asked, to which Elias and Delphini both confirmed almost immediately. She grinned at both of them, “Well then we must have a name!”

“Must we?” Elias asked sarcastically.

“Yes!! I propose…  _ The Sneaky Three! _ ” Scarlette was beaming at the pair who looked vaguely confused but after a few moments they graciously accepted the title.

“Alright, let’s work on those unbreakables, shall we?” And just like that, the moment of seriousness was broken and the group broke into laughter again. They continued on lighter subjects, chatting and joking until the bells rang for dinner. 

~~~

The three of them were in no rush to get to the Great Hall, with Elias seeming almost reluctant to leave behind the bubble of peace that the picnic had been. As the group made their way towards the great hall, they saw the Gryffindor boys walking up towards them. Elias tensed at their presence, and Delphini eyed them warily. They didn’t seem openly hostile to her specifically, but there seemed to be something antagonistic happening with them and Elias that she didn’t quite understand yet. Scarlette broke from the group to make first contact with the boys, and James stepped forward to greet her. Delphini was close enough to the group that she could make out James’ instructions to Scarlette. 

“Bring Piscus.” Was all he said to her, and Delphini swung between affronted and baffled as she made her way over. What did they want with her? Why did they seem so serious? How did they even know her name? Delphini’s mind raced as she walked over to stand next to Scarlette, who looked equally befuddled. Delphini watched as Elias, pale and tense, began walking to the Hufflepuff table. The boys seemed to be waiting for him to be out of earshot, and Delphini was now thoroughly perplexed. So much of this situation was not lining up. She fixed the boys with an intense glare, demanding explanation. Lucky for her, Sirius chose that moment to step forward and speak. 

“I know that both of you are friends with Elias, and I know that what I tell you now might be quite shocking.” Delphini immediately looked over at Scarlette, though she offered no insight into what was about to be revealed or why it required such a disclaimer. James was the next one to speak, and he was looking deeply at Scarlette. 

“We’re not telling you this out of spite, it’s just,” A pause, “We want what’s best for the two of you.” He finished, solemnly. Delphini was thoroughly unimpressed at this point, and she sighed. This attracted Sirius’ attention, and she took that as a signal to speak. 

“Please, just tell us what this is about.” She said flatly. It was blunt, and one of the boys visibly grimaced, but it got the job done. 

“James and I- we went to the lavatory, just to chat between classes and we saw Rosier there. Well, we went up and asked him about your friendship; and, may I add, were perfectly civil about it. You know us, we’re not violent people!” Sirius spoke. Right after him, James chimed in as well. 

“Not at all! We just wanted to ask him about his relation to you-” Delphini interrupted him. 

“Why is it your business about his business with Scarlette? She can handle her own affairs.” She said, borderline aggressive. She knew that she was being standoffish, but she honestly didn’t care. These boys annoyed her, and she just wanted to eat dinner with her friends. 

“Well, we wanted to see if she was okay, we heard about some commotion with a certain Lucius Malfoy, and there are clear bruises on her wrists!” Sirius exclaimed hurriedly. At this, Delphini tried to look at Scarlette’s wrists to confirm, but found her gaze blocked by Scarlette’s textbooks. 

“Well, to be frank, we were worried.” Sirius said, pausing for a moment. 

“Please, just get to it,” Scarlette prompted. Sirius squared his shoulders. 

“As we asked him, he got aggressive,” James began. 

“Very aggressive,” Chimed Sirius.

“Hostile,” Affirmed James. Then, they shared a glance and spoke at once.

“Not friendly at all!” They finished the thought in unison. Delphini grinned, bemused despite herself. 

“Uncanny, how the two of you can do that. Did you practice it beforehand?” She asked, in a moment of curiosity. Both of the boys spared her an affronted look before they continued their narrative. 

“And-and he punched me! Right here!” Sirius asserted, pointing at his nose. Surely enough, the beginnings of a bruise were present. Delphini’s mind was sent reeling as she tried to process that fact, and she only distantly registered the  _ thud _ of her books hitting the floor. It just didn’t make any sense, not for Elias, at least. Delphini tried to imagine him being violent in any circumstance, and she simply couldn’t. She blinked a few times, tracking a flurry of movement from in front of her. It was Sirius, moving to pick up her books. She watched as Sirius stood up in front of her, having to crane her head to look up at him, and handed her books back. Delphini looked down at the books, then back up at Sirius, and then back down at the books. Both Delphini and Sirius were momentarily distracted by Scarlette, who was walking rapidly away from the group. Delphini watched her go, concerned for her friend, before realizing that she was now alone with the Gryffindor boys. She also realized, in a moment of embarrassment, that Sirius was still holding her books. She took them gently, a flush prickling the skin of her cheeks as she realized that all of the boys were looking at her like some curious new species of deep-sea fish. 

“I- um- thanks. For the… for the books.” She said to Sirius, not waiting for a response before hurrying off to the Hufflepuff table. 

~~~

“And- and, he punched me! Right here!” He pointed to his nose, where a faint bruise formed. Scarlette looked utterly stunned, Delphini dropped her books, which Sirius scrambled to pick up, while James looked apologetically at Scarlette, 

“We didn’t want to cause trouble, we just wanted the truth to come out…” Scarlette broke through the small circle that had formed around them and fled. Delphini and the boys watched her leave, all looking concerned and curious. 

She ran and ran and ran, not knowing where to go or what to do. To some, she realized, this seemed over dramatic and stupid, to run away from conflict that seemed, at the surface very one sided, but the truth was very simple; Scarlette was exhausted. 

She had just gotten to her boarding school, the first time in her short life that she and her parents had been separated. As thrilling as the experience was, she felt so tired. 

As well as meeting the rowdy Gryffindors, who she had been separated from quite quickly, the experience was fun and entertaining, but they were loud and while she seemed an extrovert, she was a very extroverted introvert, too many people, too much noise, all freaked her out. On top of all that, she’d been passed around like a small gem, unable to get one moment of peace. She expected all of that, but the judgement and cruelty of this world was all new for her. She knew that it was all what she thought it would be, but still felt thoroughly unprepared. She felt as though there were so many expectations and, in conclusion, she was exhausted. 

~~~

***!!***

_“The Sneaky Three”_ Elias thought the name was quite silly, and although he admittedly liked it and flushed with happiness at the idea of having a proper friend group with a name, he would never be caught dead saying that name to anyone other than Scarlette and Delphini. As they walked towards the great hall, his good mood was shattered when he saw the Gryffindors wave Scarlette and Delphini over. _Both of them? Oh, Merlin, why can’t they just bloody leave it be!_ His stomach formed a familiar knot as he watched the six of them talk, knowing they were talking about him. _This is it, the end, they hate you they hate you they hate you —_ all previous thoughts of togetherness dissipated and he couldn’t stand there anymore, he rushed into the hall towards the Hufflepuff table. Elias immediately regretted it.

The sound and ruckus from the rest of the children echoed around the hall, vibrating from every surface, Elias could feel it pounding inside his ears. He was dizzy, he couldn’t see, the edges of his eyes blurred into a tunnel, his chest felt heavy, as if someone had placed a large steel brick on it,  _ I can’t—I can’t breath—please someone help I can’t breath—Why does everything have to be so loud, how do they not hear it— _ he couldn’t count his footsteps on the flagstones and the sudden clatter of utensils sent a shock wave up his spine making him gag, and he fell to his knees on the floor.  _ Get up get up— _ he couldn’t move, his legs felt numb and his hands were shaking, he hadn’t even realized he was biting his tongue until he began tasting blood. It hadn’t been this bad in a long time, he made sure it never was able to get this bad,  _ I told them, I told them- so stupid, you’re so stupid— _ he hit himself in the back of the head with his fist, hard, and scrunched his tight eyes trying not to cry. He didn’t even notice how a couple of students had turned to look at him, some even attempting to call out to him. He could feel a scream itching in his throat and he coughed to try and smother it—  _ stupid so stupid get up now scream scream scream— _ Suddenly he felt a large hand rest on his shoulder and everything went quiet, he took a few deep breaths feeling lighter then air, and stood up despite not really being aware of whether or not his feet were touching the ground. Elias looked up and saw Dumbledore smiling down at him.

“You’ll be alright.” The headmaster’s voice was calm and sat at the front of Elias’ mind, dimming out all other sounds, but the oddest thing was that Elias couldn’t be completely sure whether Dumbledore’s mouth had actually opened to say anything. “Although I’ll advise you to try to not make much more trouble for yourself,” His eyes sparkling knowingly, “and don’t worry, no one saw you.” Elias realized that no other students seemed to notice either of them, simply walking past as if nothing had happened. “Now,” Dumbledore nodded to something behind Elias, “I think you need to go speak to your friend.” He turned around to see Delphini sitting at the Hufflepuff table ( _ funny, she must have walked right by us) _ , clearly upset over something, when he turned back to thank the headmaster he was gone. Elias looked up to the end of the hall and saw Dumbledore sitting in his chair chatting with McGonagall, the room had filled with noise again, but it no longer bothered him as much, the only thing which remained was a dull ache on the back of his head. He spun around and dashed over to Delphini.

~~~

Sitting down alone was slightly jarring, and Delphini looked up and down the length of the table before serving herself some food. She picked at it, taking the occasional bite but spending most of her time thinking about the events of the last hour. She couldn’t imagine Elias being violent like that with no motive, it just wouldn’t happen. She turned the problem over in her head again and again, hardly noticing as her food grew cold beside her. Eventually her arm bumped into her books and she looked at them, accusatorial, as if they could show her what had happened. They sat on the table and did nothing, and Delphini grumbled a bit as she pushed her food aside and laid her head down in the crook of her crossed arms in frustration. She continued thinking, pointedly ignoring the confusing feelings surrounding the recent memory of Sirius handing her books back to her. She kept her thoughts, instead, on Sirius and James’ account of the incident. Something wasn’t lining up, there was something missing. There  _ had _ to be. Delphini groaned once more, and began to glare at her plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes. 

~~~

“Hey! Del!” She whipped around to see Elias approaching the table, and quickly forgot her food. He looked a paler than usual, and his eyes were puffy and pink-tinged. 

“Elias! Where have you been?” She asked, voice laced with worry. After a second, she decided to continue. “I-I think we should talk,” She ventured. 

“Yeah -er- can we go somewhere else?” Asked Elias. Delphini stood, gathering her books.

“Sure, where?” She questioned as Elias led her out of the din of the Great Hall. They walked for a few moments before Elias spoke again. 

“Here’s fine- what did Sirius tell you?” The two had stopped behind a large pillar, out of direct earshot of any students. Delphini thought back to the conversation, and how confusing it had been. 

“That he and James tried to ask you something about Scarlette but things… um- they got violent… and er- he said you kinda punched him.... Like, unprovoked… for no reason.” She stammered. 

“He’s lying-” 

“I know - I know you wouldn’t do something like that.” Elias sighed, looking relieved. “I’m shocked he went to such lengths, he even put on makeup so it looked like his nose was bruised— it’s so stupid, why make all that up?” She began thinking aloud, but Elias turned rapidly to look at her as she did. 

“N-no I.. I did actually hit him.” Elias looked almost resigned as he spoke. 

“What?!” Delphini felt shocked and vaguely disapproving, but she wasn’t completely opposed to the idea of the arrogant Gryffindor boys being put in their place. 

“B-but it wasn’t unprovoked!” Elias said, hurriedly. “I knew they had been saying bad things about me to Scarlette, and it was making me… not feel good, and I went to the bathroom to try and collect myself and they must’ve followed me in there. I tried to leave because I didn’t want to talk to them but they wouldn’t let me and then they started yelling and yelling at me and saying awful things about my family and saying that Scarlette should hate me and they just kept going until I snapped— I hadn’t meant to punch him I really hadn’t— it just… happened.” Elias trailed off towards the end, eyes turned towards the floor. Delphini felt strangely vindicated. 

“I knew it!” She paused, adjusting her tone before continuing. “I  _ knew _ something wasn’t kosher about those boys.” Elias looked at her, perplexed. 

“Yeah no kidding— wait… what’s ‘kosher’?”

“Oh—um it's like a thing in Judaism.”

“What’s Judaism?”

“Oh, right, you don’t know much about the Abrahamic religions-“

“I— the what?”

“Okay so once there was this guy named Abraham-“

“Wait-wait-wait— I have a feeling this might take a while, explain later, where is Scarlette? I didn’t see her in the Great Hall—“

“Oh, um, yeah, she took off.”

“What do you mean?”

“She just sort of… ran, away, I think she went upstairs, you want me to help you look?”

“No no, it's fine I’ll find her, can you save me a plate of food though?” Delphini nodded, and quickly began walking back towards the Great Hall. The population of the Hufflepuff table was sparse, and Dirk was still nowhere in sight. Most of the students had finished their meals and left already, meaning that there were no familiar faces in the Great Hall. Delphini sighed, making a plate for Elias before cracking open one of her books and delving back into the pages of  _ Hogwarts: A History _ . 

~~~

Scarlette didn’t know how long she had run, but she had to stop because she was so out of breath. She realized she had made it to the third floor, where the library resided. One of her greatest joys came from learning and reading, and before she left she made it a priority to visit it. 

She walked inside the huge room and was in awe of the space. There were what seemed like an infinite amount of shelves with multicolored books on them. The light was dim, and there was a large table running through the space with lamps and individual study spaces. She walked silently through the rows and saw at the end of each a large window with a comfy chair and lamp, to read individually. She plopped herself down on the farthest one from the door and checked the clock on the table. It read 19:30, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had about an hour and a half until curfew. She left her books and bag at the station and began hunting for books, noticing new details about the library, like the chandeliers and the librarian, who resided at a desk in the middle of the room. She approached her, reading her name off the plack on the desk. 

“Madam Pince?” She whispered, “May I ask you something?” The librarian turned around with a look of shock on her face. 

“Yes, child, you may. Are you a first year?” Scarlette nodded, and then, concerned, asked, 

“Are you alright, Madam?” Scarlette asked, Pince nodded. 

“I’m unnaccustomed to such impeccable manners, most of the students don’t whisper, or ask politely, or ask me anything at all!” It was now Scarlette’s turn to look shocked. 

“That’s horrid, I’m so sorry…” Madam Pince smiled warmly at the girl. 

“What’s your name again, Slytherin?” Scarlette answered, 

“Scarlette Hemmingway, Madam.” Madam Pince greeted her, and then asked, 

“What are you searching for?” Scarlette thought for a moment. 

“I’d love to read,  _ Hogwarts A History _ , if you don’t mind…” Madam Pince twirled her short wand and a rather large book floated to her. Pince asked,

“Would you like to take it out?” 

“Yes please Madam, I have a print at home, but I couldn’t fit it into my trunk.” Scarlette said softly. 

“Bring it back whenever you please.” Madam Pince handed it to her with a smile. 

“Thank you so much!” 

Feeling more calm and relaxed, Scarlette headed back to her chair, unaware of the dark eyes that followed her there. The library was really quiet, and suddenly Pince appeared in front of her again. 

“I’m curious, Miss Hemingway, as to why you aren’t at dinner?” Scarlette looked up at the woman and answered,

“I’m not very hungry, and the noise really bothers me.” Pince smiled, satisfied, and returned to her desk. Content, Scarlette opened her book, and read her favorite passage, one concerning the mysterious chamber of secrets. 

_ The story goes that when Slytherin's true heir returns they alone will be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and release the horror within - a horror that will purge the school of those whom Slytherin believed were unworthy of studying magic. After many extensive searches of Hogwarts over the past nine hundred and fifty years, most reputable scholars agree that the existence of the Chamber of Secrets is a fanciful tale concocted by Slytheirn's supporters. While researching this book, the author consulted the newly appointed headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, who stated that during his time at the school he had personally seen nothing to convince him that the legend was based on anything other and supposition. _

She shuddered at the thought of a monster lurking below the school, and thought about her Slytherin title. Just then, Elias appeared from around the bookshelf. Seeing that she was there, he swiftly made his way towards her. She looked at him sadly. 

~~~

The staircases were empty, he could still hear the chatter from the Great Hall a few floors bellow. Elias stopped for a moment, leaning against the stone banister, his limbs felt heavy and hunger gnawed at the walls of his stomach, he hadn’t eaten anything all day. Traversing the corridors alone he had half the mind to simply sit on the cold stone floor and relish the quiet. He could still feel the ache in the back of his head and wondered if he had bruised himself. Passing by the library he glanced through the small windows in the large wooden door and saw a flash of red and ducked into the library as quietly as he could. The smell of cracking brown pages, drying ink, and dust filled him with warmth and he smiled, letting the atmosphere seep into him. He wandered from stack to stack, running his fingers gently along the spines, until he saw her sitting in a corner and rushed to her. She looked up from her book and stared at him, something in her expression was far away, and he had never noticed before the deep grey which muddied the outline of her stark blue eyes.  _ She believes them. _

~~~

“Scarlette, please, just let me explain.” She stopped him.

“Elias, I don’t think that there’s much to explain… I’ve already heard enough-” He interrupted her, 

“But- you’ve only heard James and Sirius’ version, please it isn't like that-” She shook her head and stood up, all her books and bag floating to attention. 

“I’ll speak to you tomorrow. I’m so tired, please let's just leave it.” She walked away accompanied by the floating accessories. 

As she walked away, she felt tears spark in her eyes. She nodded at Madam Pince, who smiled at the girl’s retreating form. Scarlette trudged to the Slytherin common room grateful that she didn’t have to walk up the stairs. 

Once she said the password, she blacked out for a few moments, coming back to consciousness in a big chair with her book on her lap. She began to cry, and hid behind a book when she heard someone come in, about a half hour later. It was Elias. He waved at her, and almost walked toward her when she sniffled, but she shook her head at him and he walked away. 

For a while, Scarlette was undisturbed, reading and quietly weeping, trying to focus. There were students passing around, but she was too absorbed to hear them. She desperately wanted her mother, who could solve any bad situation but knew it was better for her to figure this out on her own. The lights dimmed, and Scarlette knew it must be 21:00. She settled more into her chair and stacked her books neatly under her, (her legs didn’t reach the ground). She looked around the common room, looking at the lake creatures float past her windows, and listening to the fire, resting. The rest didn’t last long, however. 

Around 21:45 the lanky Severus Snape came in from the boy’s dormitory. He saw her immediately, and approached her slowly, not wanting to frighten the girl. 

“Hello, Hemmingway.” He said softly. She whipped around, her face slightly red from crying and looked at the boy. 

“Oh, hi Severus.” Severus examined her, and then made up his mind to join her. 

“Do you mind if I join you?” She smiled weakly at his words. 

“No, of course not...” She pulled up a big chair and he sat across from her. 

“I just heard that there’s been a bit of a conflict.” His eyes didn’t leave her face as she took a deep breath and said, 

“You could say that.” He smiled at her, comfortingly. 

“Is there anything I could do to help?” Scarlette shook her head softly. 

“I just need to figure this out. How was your first day?” From there, they began talking. She began to admire this boy. He was clearly intelligent, and had a large crush on a certain Lily Evans. 

“Oh, yes I saw her on the express with you. She’s so beautiful.” She told him, encouragingly. He smiled at her and nodded. They both heard a whooshing sound and turned to see Malfoy stride into the room, after curfew. Scarlette smiled at him, and he walked over to them.

“Ah, Hemmingway and Snape. How touching.” At Malfoy’s sharp words, Severus turned and looked at him. 

“Ah, an arrogant git, how disgusting.” Malfoy eyed him casually. Scarlette watched the power shift and settle between them. 

“Is there room for a third in this small meeting?” Malfoy asked Scarlette. She looked at him, and said with a smile, 

“Always.” 

Severus looked at her, and then agreed, saying, 

“Come, join us.” Malfoy swiftly propelled a chair across the room and sat in it. 

“I heard about the Gryffindors. Are you feeling alright?” As he said that, his blue eyes darkened. 

“I’m okay, it isn’t that big of a deal, I’m just overwhelmed.” Malfoy nodded. 

“Understandably so. Well, I think that it’s safe to say stay away from them, and Rosier.” Scarlette looked up at Malfoy’s words and said, 

“No, no that's not what-” Severus looked at her, and interrupted, 

“I agree. It’s not healthy. The boy is a mess, and the Gryffindors are disgusting.” Scarlette shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. 

“No, no no, that’s not at all the solution! Why are you saying that?” Malfoy looked at her softly. 

“I want what’s best for you, Lette. Don’t forget that I look out for your interests, as well as mine.” Scarlette looked at him. 

“That’s none of your concern, Malfoy! I’m an independent girl, I can help myself, thank you very much.” Malfoy chuckled. 

“That’s what you think.” A thick silence fell over the room, while Scarlette felt herself drowning slowly in the dimly lit room under the black lake. She sat back, speechless.  _ Why does everyone care? It’s none of their concern… where has my strength gone…? _ Severus watched her patiently and then said calmly, 

“Malfoy, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to speak to Hemmingway alone, please.” The way he asked wasn’t a request. Malfoy nodded, and then said 

“Don’t forget what you have here, Lette. Think very carefully. Goodnight, Snape.” Then, he was gone. Severus turned to Scarlette.

“Hemmingway, I know that his way of convincing is not the best- but he is right. We’re doing what’s best for you.” Scarlette nodded, and answered, 

“Just be prepared for your efforts to go to waste.” Severus, looking exhausted, chuckled and said darkly, 

“Even if you don’t think so now, Lucius Malfoy is a powerful boy from a powerful family. He  _ always _ gets what he wants. Goodnight, Hemmingway.”

“Goodnight Severus.” He walked out and Scarlette felt herself reeling from that encounter. She shook herself out of it, and went upstairs to get some real rest. 

~~~

After giving her a few minutes of distance Elias left the library, nodding at the stern looking witch sitting behind a desk near the door. He had missed most of dinner at that point and had to eat quickly before they were bid goodnight by Dumbledore and made their way back to their dorms. Elias went straight to bed, glad that the other boys in his dorm were still in the common room. Staring up at the ceiling, the cracked glass finally broke and fat blubbery tears rolled down his face onto his pillow. He was choking on his own breath and clamped his hand over his mouth to stop the strangled noises from escaping, just in case anyone walked in. His chest ached with the force of it and he could feel his throat dry. Elias scrunched the sheets in his fists and wished he hadn’t sent Barnaby to the owlery,  _ I want my animals— _

When he was eight his family went to a winter party at the Greengrass mansion,  _ there were fairies in the garden… they looked like fallen stars…  _ His parents wanted him to play with the other children, so he ran and hid in the lilac bushes, he could still remember how wonderful they smelled,  _ honey and sea salt and something alive.  _ It hadn’t taken long for his father to find him, and he spent the rest of the evening being attached to his side, until the band started playing. He watched from a couch as his mother and father danced, but the music was too loud and there were too many people sitting around him, and he ran towards the cluster of waltzers to tell his parents he needed to leave. He’s still not sure what did it, maybe it was the fluttering gowns whose sequins were blinding or the mingling of perfumes or the music which ran circles around his head and rang in his ears— but within moments he was collapsed on the floor, screaming until his face was red and gasping for breath. They brought him home immediately, his father said he wouldn’t get dinner, and he lay in bed listening to his parents argue in the hall outside his door. After a while, his mother came in and sat next to him on his bed, she didn’t look at him, just held his hand while he apologized over and over. The only thing she told him was, “don’t worry, tomorrow is another day.” 

_ Tomorrow is another day, tomorrow is another day, you’re going to be fine, tomorrow’s another day,  _ no matter how many times he repeated it the words still seemed empty,  _ tomorrow’s another day—I want my bed, I want my lake, I want my teddy bear, I want— _

“I w-want m-my mom-“ he choked, he hadn’t meant to say it out loud and quickly held his breath to listen for anyone walking to the dorms. Just silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW Summary: After Sirius and James tell Delphini and Scarlette what Elias did, Elias suffers an intense panic attack in the middle of the dinning hall, he hits himself, Dumbledore comes over to him and calms him with magic, Elias tries to thank him but when he looks up the Headmaster is gone as if nothing happened. He is confused because he feels completely fine, and he wonders if Dumbledore knows something about him and why he keeps trying to read his mind.


	9. The Sacred Twenty Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scarlette takes a fall, Elias takes up an offer, and Delphini takes notes...

Delphini was down by the lake again. She appreciated it’s simplicity, really. It sat in front of her, huge and dark and unchanging, like a massive obelisk. She knew the lake, and she liked the canvas of peace and quiet that it provided her. However, that peace (and quiet) found itself substantially disturbed by a pair of footsteps approaching. Delphini steeled herself and turned, ever so slightly, to cast a glance at the approaching form of Sirius Black. So he  _ had  _ gotten her note. About a day had passed since the Gryffindor boys had stopped her and Scarlette on their way to dinner, and Delphini was determined to get them to confess to provoking Elias. Sirius settled on standing a few feet to Delphini’s left, and only took a moment before he started to speak. 

“I don’t know why you asked me to meet you,” He began. Delphini quashed down a bolt of frustration that ran through her, and her neutral facade didn’t flinch. “ I mean, James and I told you everything that happened. There’s nothing left to discuss.” Delphini breathed in, then out.  _ Remain calm, Don’t make enemies,  _ Her father’s voice reminded her. 

“I don’t think you did. I can’t imagine Elias would do something like that without  _ some  _ provocation, it just isn’t him.” She said, calm and measured. She had to be careful, she knew that Sirius’ family name could ruin her life and any potential for a career in magic if she got on his bad side. Sirius exhaled sharply at her comment. 

“Well, maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do.” Sirius challenged, eyes darting back and forth over the surface of the lake.

“This isn’t some out of character remark that he made, I  _ know _ Elias wouldn’t hit someone without good reason!” Delphini was growing frustrated, and her tone conveyed as much. Sirius looked like he had been cornered in a fight, and Delphini couldn’t help but feel smug. 

“Even if we did egg him on a bit, what does it matter?” He groused, after a moment of consideration. Delphini scoffed. 

“What does it matter? What does it  _ matter? _ ”  _ Oh, dear.  _ Said the small part of her brain that was still functioning logically. “What it matters is that you’re twisting the story and using it to turn people against him!” Delphini was almost shouting, any semblance of calm she’d tried to keep was thoroughly shredded by Sirius’ stubborn nonchalance. 

“I don’t know why you trust him so much. His family has done terrible things! He could be dangerous, Piscus!” Sirius was also borderline shouting, and both had fully turned to face each other. 

“Well maybe, if you’d actually take the time and get to know him, you’d realize that who he is isn’t dictated by the actions of his family!” Delphini heard her voice echo across the lake, and realized how angry she’d gotten. She took a deep breath. “And, for the record, the reason I trust him so much is because he’s one of the only people in this school who’s actually been nice to me.” Her voice was low and strained, and she didn’t wait for a response before she turned and walked away from the shore of the lake. Her heart was pounding and her hands had started shaking at some point, something she only realized after she released them from the white-knuckled fists they had balled into. It was the first verbal fight she’d ever had with someone her own age, and as she stormed off to the library to try and calm down, she didn’t regret a word of it.

That evening, all was quiet in the Hufflepuff common room. With all the drama of the last few days, Delphini was glad to have a moment to herself. At least, she was, until the whispering began. She chalked it up to the wind rustling the grass above the windows at first, but then it grew louder, more distinct. The whispers were saying her  _ name _ , repeatedly. Her head whipped around towards the door, her book already forgotten on the chair beside her. The door was cracked the slightest bit open. Delphini stood up and approached the door, trying to make as little noise as she could. Once she was thoroughly out of sight from her housemates in the shadows of the doorway, she tugged the wrought-iron handle swiftly towards her.

A rush of cold basement air swept a few hanks of hair back from her face as the door swung open. There, right in front of Delphini, scampering back as if he had been burned, was Sirius Black. Delphini blinked. He was still there. Sirius Black, heir of one of the most prolific ancient families in the wizarding world, already one of the most popular students in their grade, rambunctious Gryffindor, was standing in front of the Hufflepuff dormitory entrance. 

Delphini noticed a few interesting things immediately. First, Sirius looked decidedly rumpled. His shirt was half untucked and slightly wrinkled, strands of his shoulder length black hair were sticking up askew, and his tie had come partially loose. Second, he was holding an assortment of plants. Delphini could pick out a few species of grasses and herbs in the bunch, which was arranged in some half-feral bouquet. Third, and most perplexing to Delphini, was the fact that Sirius appeared to be catching his breath as if he’d run all the way from Gryffindor tower to the basement. That last fact sent her mind into a tailspin, leaving one too many pieces unaccounted for. Sirius seemed to have sufficiently caught his breath at that point, and Delphini took a deep inhale to steel herself for the conversation to come. Sirius began to open his mouth to speak, but Delphini was determined to get there first. 

“What are you doing here?” She demanded, in a shrill whisper. Sirius, to his credit, had the grace to look guilty for a moment. 

“Well, I was going to ask you how your night was going, but I guess we’re not doing that.” Said Sirius, in a far too casual tone. Delphini peeked her head out to look up and down the hall for anyone who might catch the boy out of his common room after dinner. The hall was clear, but Delphini remained on edge. 

“Why are you  _ here _ , though?” She asked, tone still harsh. Sirius seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking again. 

“The conversation at the lake didn’t go exactly how I’d planned it to,” Delphini scoffed at the understatement. “And I, Uh, I figured I’d bring you this.” Sirius said, shoving the assortment of plants in Delphini’s general direction. She stared at them, stunned. 

“Are you gonna take them, or is this gonna be like that time with the books?” Sirius joked. Delphini didn’t laugh, and instead continued to stare at the plants. 

“What is that.” She said, tone completely flat. Sirius coughed. 

“I was going to just get you some flowers or something,” 

“Wait, what?”

“But then I remembered that you’re also into just straight up plants and stuff,” “Wait,  _ what _ ?”

“So I brought you this instead.” Sirius explained, still holding out the plants. Delphini felt like her head was going to explode. Before she could formulate a question to ask, however, she heard faint footsteps approaching from down the hall. 

“You need to leave.” She said, grabbing the door handle. 

“Wait-” Sirius began, still holding out the plants. Without thinking, Delphini grabbed the bunch from his outstretched hand and shoved him towards the kitchen stairs. 

“Filch is coming. You’re gonna get caught, you need to go,” She said, pointing up towards the kitchens and ignoring any of Sirius’ attempts to interject. 

“Wait up there until you hear him pass, then go straight back to your common room.” She instructed, giving him one final shove towards the kitchens and hurriedly shutting the heavy door behind her. She leaned back against it, looking down at the plants in her hand. She picked out a stalk of mint, some chives, and a sprig of rosemary from the bunch and grabbed her book as she passed the chair on the way to the girl’s dormitory. 

As she sat on her bed that night, she carefully folded the chosen herbs up in the wax paper and slotted them into the back of the book. The rest she hung to dry on a poster of her bed. She did not look at them at all after that, and attempted to focus on the reading she’d been doing prior to Sirius’ interruption. Later, as she drifted off to sleep that night, she pointedly did not wonder if Sirius had successfully avoided being caught by Filch. 

The next time the two met was a few days after Sirius had appeared outside of the Hufflepuff common room. Delphini was crossing the courtyard, arms laden with books, to spend her short break reading with Dirk. 

“Piscus!” Called a voice from the other side of the courtyard. Delphini kept walking, not willing to be distracted from one of her brief moments of relaxation. 

“Piscus! Wait up!” It called, seemingly undeterred by how stubbornly Delphini was ignoring it. The voice belonged to Sirius, out of breath and holding an old, leather-bound book in his hand. 

“What do you want?” Delphini asked curtly. Sirius shoved the book at her, and Delphini cautiously reached up to hold it. 

“I wanted-” He paused, taking a moment to breathe. “I wanted to give you this, and I also wanted to talk to you because I haven’t gotten the chance to yet. Properly.” Delphini opened her mouth to ask the obvious question of why in the world Sirius would want to talk to _her_ , but he cut her off before she could. 

“I also don’t want you to think I'm just some loud, obnoxious idiot- even though you probably already do- but even more than that I want to be your friend.” Sirius’ explanation had only created more questions for her, but she shoved them aside temporarily to focus on the conversation. 

“So you- you decided to do that by… giving me, uh, books? And plants?” She questioned, uncertain. Sirius groaned. 

“No! Well, not entirely. I just-” He sighed. “Just, meet me at the lake, okay? I have to get to class now, or McGonagall’s gonna skin me.” He said, then shoved the book further into Delphini’s grasp before waving a quick goodbye and walking away. The book in her hands was an old copy of  _ Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes _ . It was obviously well-worn and not anything from the Hogwarts library, and Delphini’s eyes widened as she ran her fingers over the lettering on the cover. Adding the book to the stack she had already been carrying, Delphini continued away from the courtyard and towards where Dirk was waiting for her. 

If you asked Delphini immediately after her History of Magic class what she’d thought of the week so far, she would tell you that it had included far too much of Sirius Black for her liking. She’d be laughing in class with Dirk or relaxing in the common room or staring aimlessly into the depths of the lake and all of a sudden there he’d be, arguing with her or sneaking around or handing her books or plants or some other equally perplexing tidbit of information. The two were opposite in almost every way, and they had more than ample reason to avoid each other, and yet Sirius kept seeking her out time and time again. He wouldn’t gain anything by being her friend, by all accounts he had no reasonable motivation to be acting the way that he was. 

These thoughts swirled around her mind as Delphini stepped onto the grass surrounding the lake. Sirius hadn’t actually specified  _ when  _ she was supposed to meet him by the lake, but she assumed that the next break that both of them shared was a reasonable bet. After a few minutes, Delphini eventually spotted the tall figure of Sirius Black standing on the adjacent bank. She groaned, but began to trudge over the rolling hills nevertheless. 

By time Delphini picked her way down the bank to where Sirius was waiting, he had been watching her approach for several minutes. She settled on standing to his right, a few feet away, and he looked over at her with a bemused smile. Delphini found it only mildly irritating. 

“You’re confusing.” Delphini said, without preamble. She did not look over to see Sirius’ reaction. Sirius audibly scoffed. 

“You’re one to talk,” He shot back. 

“What does  _ that  _ mean?” Her tone was borderline accusatory, and Sirius stammered incredulously before he decided on what to say.

“Have you ever tried to find information about you? Or your family? Seriously, it’s like you people don’t even exist.” Delphini’s mind ground to a screeching halt as Sirius finished speaking. 

“Wait… wait- were you trying to dig up information on my family?” She questioned, voice growing shrill.

“Yes! I thought that would be evident by now!” 

“Why would that be evident? Why would you even do that?!” Delphini shrieked. Sirius seemed as though he was about to reply, but he took a deep breath and composed himself before he replied.

“Look, that’s not what I came here to talk to you about.” He sighed. “I came here to say that I think we got off on the wrong foot, and that I’d like to give the whole ‘introductions’ thing another go.” He paused. “If you, y’know- if you’re willing to do that.” Sirius looked at Delphini, uncharacteristically uncertain. 

“I- wait, what?” She stammered, thrown off severely by Sirius’ earnest proposition. “You actually  _ want  _ to be friends with me?” Her voice was filled with bewilderment, bordering on awe. Sirius huffed.

“Yes, yes I do.” He seemed to be attempting to recover from the moment of earnestness, but Delphini had already seen it. She grinned.

“Sure.” Delphini turned toward Sirius and stuck her hand out. Sirius raised his eyebrows, but turned and took her hand regardless. “I’m Delphini Piscus,” she shook his hand, and he grinned broadly.

“I’m Sirius Black, nice to meet you.” He dropped her hand, looking back towards the castle. Delphini followed his line of sight, though she saw nothing interesting. Sirius cleared his throat after a moment. “You wanna head back to the castle?” He asked, nodding in the vague direction of the castle to emphasize his point. Delphini blinked at him, pausing more for dramatic effect than for anything else. After a tense moment, she grinned. 

“Alright, but only if you tell me where you got that copy of  _ Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes. _ ” Sirius smiled widely at her. 

“You’ve got a deal.” He said, and the two began to make their way back up the hill.

_ This is all so confusing.  _ Was one of the many mantras that Delphini had adopted in her first week at Hogwarts. She felt wrung out as she settled into an armchair in the common room, her eagerness to open the new book that her parents had sent her dampened by her exhaustion. There came a reassuring squeeze on her arm and Delphini looked up to see Mara, a tall, broad-shouldered girl from her dormitory with whom she had carried out a few pleasant conversations. She weakly returned the grin, and Mara turned to walk back to where she had been sitting. Alone once again, Delphini returned to her thoughts. She felt as though she were in the middle of a game of tug-of-war, with her loyalty to Elias pulling her in one direction and her budding friendships with Sirius and Scarlette pulling her in the other. She  _ had  _ to do something to resolve this, lest it take over her ability to focus when she actually needed to. She needed a plan, since everyone else involved seemed to be stubbornly resisting doing anything to remedy the situation. Sensing that she would need to organize her ideas, she jogged up the stairs to get a scrap of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink before returning to her spot on the armchair. 

_ What needs to happen?  _ She wrote at the top of the page. After a second, she jumped to the line below it and wrote  _ An apology.  _ She tapped her quill, then continued. _ Plan:  _ read the next line, and Delphini moved to write again, but she paused. What  _ was  _ her plan?

_ Step one: Approach Scarlette. If she is receptive, attempt to convince her to talk to Elias. If she gets defensive, remind her that she’s only heard one (two?) account(s).  _

Delphini tapped her quill, thinking about how to proceed. Her brow furrowed in thought, but she tentatively continued to write. 

_ Step two: Approach Elias at lunch, dinner at the latest, and tell him that Scarlette agreed to hear him out. Be prepared for some confusion/surprise.  _

She nodded to herself, satisfied with the two step plan. It was simple, but at least she’d be doing something. Satisfied with the progress she had made, Delphini set down her parchment and picked up a book that her parents had sent her. 

“ _ The Changeling _ , huh?” Delphini whipped around to see Mara, sitting on a nearby armchair with a book of her own in her lap. There was a jar of ink on her table table and a quill in her hand. 

“I- uh- what?” Delphini stammered. Mara chuckled, setting the quill on the table next to the jar of ink. 

“The book you were reading, _ The Changeling _ . I read it a few months ago,” She paused, eyes flicking down to the book and then back up to Delphini’s face. “D’you like it so far?” She questioned, with an air of casual disaffection. Objectively, Delphini thought, Mara was quite pretty. She was tall, taller than Delphini by a few inches, and she already looked like the athletic type. She had warm, olive skin and dark, curly hair. 

“I- uh- I haven’t read that much of it yet. I’ve been a bit distracted, really.” Delphini gave a sheepish chuckle, and Mara nodded sagely. 

“I could tell. You seemed really into whatever you were writing just now.” She said. Delphini shoved some hair out of her face. 

“I was, but I finished it.” Delphini said, flatly. Mara shrugged, and leaned over to pick up her quill again. 

“You should read some more of that book, it’s really good.” She remarked, before dipping her quill into the ink and returning to the book in her lap. Delphini sat for a second, looking down at the book on her chair beside her. Slowly, she picked the book up and swung her legs onto the arm of the chair. By the time she was ready to go to the girl’s dormitory, the common room was mostly deserted and Delphini had sped through six chapters of the new book. Her eyes burned in the way that they only burned when she read for hours on end, and she quietly shut the book and set it on the table beside her. She stood from her chair, and made her way towards the dormitory stairs. 

The morning came much sooner than she would have liked it to. Delphini tentatively opened her eyes, wincing when they were immediately met with the sunlight that was pouring in and filling the room. She pushed her glasses haphazardly onto her face as she walked down to the common room, not pausing to wait for Dirk to emerge from the boy’s dormitory. Delphini looked out of the windows to see thick, dark storm clouds hovering in the distance. She frowned, but continued on to breakfast. 

In the end, convincing Scarlette to hear Elias out was shockingly easy. She seemed almost relieved, much to Delphini’s surprise. It had come out in a long-winded ramble, with Scarlette having to take several moments to process the information before giving a simple assurance that she’d hear Elias out. Delphini was shocked at how painless the whole ordeal was. 

~~~

The deep rumble of late summer rain echoed through the castle halls and the windows shuddered, beaten by wind. Each classroom had a lively fire going, keeping them warm, but the corridors seemed to have dropped several degrees and no one was eager to spend time meandering between classes. Dinner at the Great Hall was calmer than usual, or perhaps the storm was drowning it out. Elias sipped his vegetable soup quietly while Delphini explained the entire plot of a book her parents had sent her entitled  _ The Changeling.  _ Or at least, the entire plot so far, she’d only read to the sixth chapter. It was a muggle written book about something magical, he thought it must be quite interesting to read muggle books about magic,  _ they must get so much wrong _ , he chuckled. 

“Anyways -- Um,” she paused for a moment and Elias turned at the sudden silence.

“Yeah?”

“I spoke to Scarlette earlier today--” He cut her off with a sigh, “-- I know you said I didn’ have too, but this is just all so stupid, you know? Like it’s not fair--” It had been just over a week and a half since the first day, and despite all of its chaos, the days that followed were surprisingly calm. They still had to sit next to each other in certain classes, but Scarlette didn’t talk to him, and that was alright. Well -- it was technically alright, but Elias still felt the desperate need to explain himself in detail, to kneel and beg maybe, if not to regain her friendship then just to clear his name. Other than that, he warmed up to his schedules, made conversation with a select few of his roommates (truthfully, he has only spoken to one, his name was Alfalfa and apparently he “really really really” liked tropical fish), discovered the wonders of a very specific chair in the library, and sent an owl to his parents asking them to send pictures of Cosmo, Vera, Monty, and Neela, as he was already missing them very much.

“Del, I know-- but really, it’s okay,” he gave a genuine smile, knowing she had his best interests at heart.

“--No, Eli, she said she would talk to you.” He paused, spoon mid-air.

“What? When?”

“Well, I talked to her after breakfast--”

“No, when is she going to talk to me--”

“I’m getting to that!-- I talked to her after breakfast and told her that she should at least talk to you and learn your side of the story, and she was like, ‘oh you don’t know what Sirius and James have told me yada yada’ and I was like ‘whatever it is I know most of it isn’t true’ and she was like ‘fine I’ll talk to him’-- so she’s gonna meet you in the Slytherin common room after dinner.” It all came out in one long breath and Delphini stared at Elias, who was staring at his water glass, waiting for a response.

“You had this conversation at breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Delphini quirked her brow at him.

“And I’m supposed to talk to her after dinner?”

“I-- yeah?”

“And it’s dinner now.”

“Yeah I know--”

“Well why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

“We were busy!!” Delphini said and Elias groaned, wishing he had gotten more time to prepare. He glanced up at the Gryffindor table and saw the five of them laughing about something, Scarlette did admittedly look a little paler than usual. “I’m sorry--”

“No, no, it’s alright, thanks for talking to her,” he smiled again.

~~~

After the Marauders had told Scarlette what had happened, her and Elias’ friendship collapsed. She didn’t actively avoid him, but if they were together there was an unbearable silence and she’d have to flee. He seemed genuine when he was trying to talk to her, but she saw the bruise on Sirius’ nose, and that had been the final straw. She and the Marauders, as well as the Slytherins began spending much more time together, even though it became a free-for-all everyday. So, when Del approached Scarlette asking if she’d talk to Elias, Scarlette accepted, tired of the silence, and then went to the common room to wait. She had settled down in her favorite chair, opened up a journal she’d been keeping and read the first night’s entry. She was very invested in her own writing, so much so that when Elias has crept up and said, 

“Hey, Delphini said you would want to talk to me,” clearly nervous, Scarlette jumped, and faced him quickly.

“Yeah,” She pointed to the chair opposite her and looked out the window, where a school of fish swam by. The silence was getting unbearable, and at last she said, 

“So?” Elias looked at her, hurt by the sharpness of her tone and she almost cried. 

“S-so? So what?” She decided to be strong, and tried to seem angry, even though she was increasingly anxious, she put on an annoyed face.

“SO,” she hated that her voice sounded so accusatory, “what happened?” she caught herself, “According to you, at least.” Elias caught her gaze and began explaining. 

~~~

“I saw you and James and the others talking about me,” her eyes shifted to the table, “and I got upset bec--beca--” taking a few deep breaths, he coughed a little, as if it force the words from his throat, “because I thought after what happened at breakfast you would tell them to stop--”

“I did--”

“Well clearly it didn’t do anything because I saw you at lunch staring at me and whispering about me like you hadn’t said anything--”  _ don’t get angry,  _ he took another deep breath, “and I--I’m I’m already not good at this sort of thing, and it makes it even more difficult when--”  _ no that doesn’t make sense, start over _ “--no-- just, I just didn’t know why you were talking about me because you don’t know me, and I didn’t think I had done anything wrong, but I didn’t know if I had cause I’ve never had to do something like this-- and I just--” he shut his eyes tight, trying to picture what he wanted to say, hoping then it could make sense, “-- I got very upset and I get more upset when I’m in very crowded spaces -- or i-if I stay around anyone for too long--”

“Why? People are good-- they’re here to help you feel better,” The edge was gone, replaced by an almost caring ‘ _ What’s wrong with you? _ ’ He didn’t quite know how to answer, he wanted to tell her that most people are horrible and loud and make the skin on his back crawl, but he refrained, knowing it wouldn’t explain anything properly.

“I-I don’t know… when I’m with people for a while, it's like-- it feels like I'm locked in a really small box, a-and it just keeps getting smaller and smaller--” he finally opened his eyes, she was staring at him again, the look on her face-- he hated people feeling sorry for him. All it meant was that they thought he was just as weak as he felt. 

~~~

“A-anyways” he continued, “I wanted to be alone because I was upset, so I went to the bathroom a-and Sirius and James-- they must’ve followed me in-- I didn’t want to talk to them b-but they wouldn’t let me leave-- they kept blocking me and then Sirius h-he h-he pushed me up against the sink and s-started yelling at me--” She felt like she was falling.  _ It’s only the third week of school why is this happening- we’re all just starting why is this all happening and why is it all bringing me into it I just want to have a fun time oh gods it’s all my fault oh gods- _

“What?!” She was surprised by how her voice was broken. He watched her, and she asked, 

“W-What were they saying…?” 

“Oh-- um… they kept saying horrible things about my family-- which aren’t true-- a-and they said that you--” his voice quieted, “--that you should hate me and that you will hate me-- and just -- other stuff… like that.” She lost control of her voice for a second.  _ Why does this concern me… I spoke to the boys.. Why is this happening…  _ She regained control and said quietly, 

“Elias I’m so sorry, that sounds really awful-- I- I should have listened to you sooner, I’m so so sorry--” She felt utterly lost.  _ Who’s there to trust? This is the first month of school why is this happening oh my gods! _ He looked at her and said softly, 

“N-no, it’s alright, with what they were telling you, it makes sense you would believe them… I’m not upset with you-- I’m upset with them-- I promise.” She felt overwhelming guilt and knew this was a lie. She could’ve done something- anything- what were the boys thinking! She had an idea, but it was delicate, 

“Uhm… can I ask you something? It’s okay if you don’t want to answer--”

“What is it?” 

~~~

“W-What made you punch him? You just -- I know we kinda only just met but, I don’t know, you don’t seem like you would do that…”

“Oh— sorry, I can’t really… it’s just hard to talk about, and it wasn’t even true I just— I don’t know…”

“That’s okay, I-I understand-- and I know that they were being mean-- but I think you still shouldn’t hit people… my parents told me that the only way to stop someone being mean to you is to show them how to be nice!” Her smile was bright, she seemed so sure.

“If you’re kind to people who hurt you, all they will think is that there is no consequence to what they do and they will continue to hurt you.”

“I don’t believe that! People can change, I’ve seen them change!”  _ How can she possibly be so naive? Perhaps it’s just deluded optimism -- but that’s like thinking if you pour water on your hands and then stick them in a fire you won’t get burned.  _

“Well… we must have had different experiences then.”

~~~

By Autumn, all the students had settled into their routines. It was a Wednesday morning and Scarlette danced down the stairs, hand in hand with Severus, Elias following close behind. She was super excited to see Lily Evans; whom she had befriended late in September. They had passed in the hallway a lot, and once when James passed her and Severus he had ripped her bag, resulting in all of Lily’s books toppling to the floor. Scarlette rushed to the rescue, and was able to levitate all the inkwells before any true disaster occurred. Ever since that moment they had become fast friends. Mondays and Wednesdays they would hang out together, on the grounds, during meals (except dinner, which was reserved for the Sneaky Three) and would take their chances to explore the castle or take walks around the lake. In those pleasant afternoons the girls would discuss their muggle lives, literature and (of course), boys. Lily was suspicious of the Slytherins, and Scarlette reassured her they were good company. Scarlette also noted how occasionally Severus would tag along, and the three of them had a splendid time. They would also run into Eli and Del, who would greet her friendly and chat for a bit before continuing on their own way. Those days were amazing, but they didn’t compare to her time with her best friends. 

The three of them resolved to keep weekends for each other, and would spend days working on spells, or playing a game of research to see who could find a new species of animal (Del’s favorite), learn about a new spell, (Eli’s favorite) or learn about new secret passages, (Scarlette’s favorite). They had a banger time, and always at the end of the days burst outside and run around, frolicking in the Autumn air. 

Fridays were an interesting day, for those days, Lucius and Barty Jr had their days with her. Lucius would prod her with questions about her life outside Hogwarts and boast about his knowledge. She was interested in the boy immensely, and he was interested in her too. Sometimes, the two of them were so wrapped up in each other they forgot about the extra in their group. They bashed heads a lot, both highly intelligent for their years, though they were two years separated. It was clear that Malfoy respected Scarlette’s mind, even though his sharp jabs at her stung more than occasionally. 

Tuesdays and Thursdays always brought good times, the Gryffindors had adopted a new name; The Marauders. They included Scarlette in the group, not bringing up any of the previous incidents and remaining darlings, though Sirius had made it a point that Scarlette knew he didn’t trust Elias. Apologies had all been issued, but none had been accepted. Scarlette remembered one particular day, when the wounds had been opened again. 

It had been a week after Scarlette had found out about the blow Elias had struck, and she had still not been able to bring herself to bring it up. In the mornings then, she’d walk to the Hufflepuff table to bid them a “goodmorning!” and walk over to the Gryffindors, or the Slytherin table. One weekend, Scarlette did what she always did, found an abandoned classroom and tried to practice her wand magic. The Marauders would always joke that they needed to keep her somehow restricted so she wouldn’t run away, but she always laughed; and when they’d turn around she’d be gone. 

~~~

The next few weeks found Delphini falling into more comfortable schedules. She began setting aside time to spend with her friends, something she never thought she’d have to do. She spent long afternoons with Scarlette in the library, she kept going on walks by the lake with Elias, and she spent many of her breaks in the courtyard with Dirk. Her and Mara also began a tentative friendship, sitting together on breaks and laughing in the common room before they went off to bed. Delphini was, for all intents and purposes, about as happy as she was ever going to be. She spent her days learning about the vast, complicated history of magic and how to practice it, she spent her meals with her many friends chatting over the day’s events. Never in her life did she think that she’d be so popular. 

The Gryffindor boys had begun to call themselves the Marauders, a name that Delphini continuously teased Sirius about when they went walking on the grounds. Deep down, Delphini was convinced that the Marauders still saw her as some oddity rather than a person, and that they may never genuinely respect her. However, Delphini was not phased by this as Sirius seemed happy to be her friend. That would be plenty enough for her. 

There was, unfortunately, a sticking point in this otherwise perfect life. Delphini was socially inept, but even she was able to pick up on the glaringly obvious tension among her friends. She wouldn’t call the Marauders her  _ friends,  _ exactly, but she would call Sirius at least an acquaintance. The issue was that he, and the other Marauders, seemed determined to antagonize Elias. What he’d done to deserve it Delphini couldn’t say, but she knew that it had caused a notable terseness between the Marauders, Scarlette, and Elias. Delphini was tiring of it rather quickly as September progressed into October. The mornings became cloudy and brisk, with winds whipping across the grounds and chilling everyone in their path. 

It was on one such morning that Delphini found herself trudging up a spiral staircase to class. That was not extremely unusual, nor was the fact that she passed the Marauders being rowdy and loud and stopping up the stairwell almost entirely. As she shoved past the group, an arm reached out and caught the sleeve of her robe, tugging her so roughly that she was forced to stop and turn around. When she did she saw Sirius, still hanging onto her sleeve. 

“Hey, Piscus, where ‘ya off to?” He asked, standing apart from the rest of the Marauders. Delphini turned fully to face him, about level with Sirius due to the fact that she was standing a few steps above him. 

She levelled him with a dry stare. “I do have a name, you know.” Sirius looked almost sheepish, and he dropped her sleeve, clearing his throat. 

“Sorry,  _ Delphini _ , where ‘ya off to?” Delphini rolled her eyes. 

“I’m going to the library. What about you?” Her eyes darted over to the other Marauders nervously, but soon settled back on Sirius’ semi-familiar face. 

“The lads and I were just gonna try and find Scarlette, maybe mess around on the grounds a little. You wanna come?” The question was innocuous enough, but Delphini’s heart sped up regardless. 

“Uhm- no, thank you, I’m good. I have some- uh- important reading to do. In the library. Where I was headed.” She deflected. Sirius chuckled, reaching up to ruffle her hair. 

“It’s alright, Piscus. You’ll get there someday.” Delphini chuckled at the comment, turning to resume her climb up the stairs. 

~~~

Burnt cracking leaves dusted the stone courtyard, occasionally dancing around student’s feet as they passed. Elias sat under the old pear tree which, due to the season, had turned such a bright red it could seem to be enchanted that way. October had always been one of his favorite months of the year, the grassy valleys and hills surrounding his home would all turn a deep bronze, as if a dragon had blazed through the entire countryside and left it smouldering. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, careful to avoid a knot in the bark, he pulled a small leather bound book and charcoal tin from his satchel. Sketching the castles many cloisters and fountains had become one of his favorite pastimes, at least whenever Scarlette and Delphini were busy, and he found it surprisingly easy to drown out the chatter around him with the scratch of pencil to paper. Alfalfa often joined him, he never spoke much, which Elias appreciated, although when he did conversation was surprisingly easy. It was rather nice that Alfalfa didn’t know any of his other friends, and he had no intention of introducing them. Even though it had been weeks, Elias was still never quite sure where he stood with Scarlette. When he was around her he never felt quite like he belonged there, the more he tried to ignore the uncertainty the more it ate away at him, and because she spent so much time with Delphini, the feeling had accumulated with her as well. Barnaby was nestled in the grass next to him, he had brought him from the owlery, not to send a letter, just because he missed him. Elias had already drawn the pear tree, the fountain, and a distant turret he could view through the branches the other day, so instead he turned to Barnaby, shifting himself slightly for a better angle. Of course he had already sketched his owl many times, but he never got tired of it.

“Afternoon!” Elias looked up to see Alfalfa jogging towards him with a grin, and he nodded in reply, “did you see the poster on the notice board from Slughorn!” He was shorter than Elias, though that wasn’t difficult, and no matter what he looked as if he had just thrown on his robes, with certain pieces not quite tied or in the right place. His face was host to large clusters of freckles which sometimes clumped together forming large birthmarks or traveled down his neck in packs. Elias couldn’t help but notice that sometimes certain clusters appeared to be in different places then the day before, but he never mentioned it. 

“No? What’d it say?” Elias said, not taking his eyes off the owl.

“There’s gonna be a Halloween dance! For the Slytherins! Apparently it’s been a yearly thing since Slughorn started working here,” Alfalfa swung his bag down and sat on the other side of Barnaby, “that’s very nice,” he nodded towards Elias’ drawing.

“Hm? Oh, thank you-- what do you mean a Halloween dance?” He asked, still not looking up from his work.

“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’? It’s a dance, on Halloween, after the feast, in the Slytherin common room -- the poster said there would be butterbeer too, and snacks. You gonna go?”

“Probably not,” he muttered.

“Why not?”

“I don’ like dances.” 

“Oh common, everyone likes dancing-”

“I never said I don’t like dancing, I said I don’t like dances.” Alfalfa simply shrugged at that and scratched behind Barnaby’s ear. Typically neither Elias nor Barnaby would let someone even pet Barnaby, let alone scratch the back of his ear, but Barnaby seemed to like it, and Elias trusted his judgment. “Besides,” Elias continued, “I know for a fact that there are several Slytherins who would just see me as an intruder so-”

“Well I’m going, and I know for a fact that pretty much no one there knows I exist so-”

“I know you exist-”

“Well sure, but you just said you’re not going! But anyways - I was thinking if we both go, then you’ll have someone who doesn’t want you to leave, and I’ll have someone who would actually consider talking to me.” Elias finally looked up and their gaze met in silence for a few moments before Alfalfa waggled his eyebrows with vigorous sarcasm and they both burst out laughing. No, he couldn’t let him meet Scarlette or the others -- this was his courtyard and his pear tree, and he was with his owl and his friend; and everything was quiet. 

~~~

That particular day, Scarlette had snuck into the potions classroom. There were no classes because it was lunch time. She took out her wand and took a feather out of her bag. She’d place it on the ground and practise, practise, practise, until she got it to float for thirty seconds. On this day she wasn’t focusing well, and her feather barely gathered itself off the floor, when a noise came from behind her. She turned around to see Elias standing in the corner, watching her. 

“Hi, Elias… how long have you been standing there?” Elias looked at her with a smile. 

“Long enough to see that you’re struggling. It isn’t that hard, here, let me show you-” She let him approach her and take out his wand. He quickly succeeded and then watched as she attempted to levitate the feather again. Then again. Then again. Each time he followed up with words akin too “Just make your wrist movements clearer-- you need to be properly announcing-- no, you’re mumbling again-- now you’re not even moving your wand--” Each time she whined and said she was ready to give up and that it was all hopeless.

“Oh gods, can’t you see that I’m just bad at this?! I’m useless. I'll never be able to do this properly, and like you said in charms, if I can’t do it properly then I’ll never get better, so I might as well just stop now becaus--”

“MERLIN’S BEARD-- can you put aside your own bloody self pity for one moment?! Of course you’re not going to succeed, you’re not even trying! If you could just get over yourself for two seconds then maybe you could make some fucking progress!” His face was brightly flushed and he towered over her with his fists clenched-- almost as if he could hit her. She collapsed on the floor in a flood of tears. For about a second Elias hesitated, the anger flickered from his eyes and he rushed to her. 

“I-I’m sorry! I - I don’t know what came over me - I’m not actually angry at you, I promise - oh merlin - please, please stop crying I hadn’t meant it-” He sat on the floor, staring in shock, though not at her, his hands frozen in front of him, as if weary to touch her. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder, testing the waters, when she didn’t move away he pulled her into a warm (although clearly inexperienced) hug and they stayed there until her sobs had quieted. She eventually looked up at him.

“I- I just” She hiccuped, “hic, I- just have -hic- been strugg- -hic- struggling and I don- don’t know wh- why I cant do it…” He held her tightly and said, 

“I know, I understand, you didn’t deserve that-- I just… I want you to succeed and I see you holding yourself back because you think you can’t do it-- I’m sorry. Although just so you know, it is completely normal to be having these difficulties, every young witch and wizard struggles like this. I’m only where I am now because I have had the privilege of being taught young. I have no doubt that you are going to become an  _ incredible _ witch.” He smiled down at her and offered his hand to her. Wearily, she took it and picked herself up off the ground, letting him lead her out.

~~~

Elias hated a lot of things, one of them was people who were upset about failing and then refused to apply help to better themselves. Sometimes when reading, he would come across a character which would do just that and more then once he had to close the book and stalk off fuming. His mother once saw him and told him that he shouldn’t get angry about things that don’t affect him — _It doesn’t matter whether it effects me or not, this person is being stupid and ridiculous and it’s infuriating!_ Even after the apology and the weeks of eating together and studying together, she would still give him that look, the kind of look you would give someone who you know hides a knife in their coat. _It’s not my fault, even after what I’ve told her, she still can’t even imagine her golden boys could be in the wrong — can’t she just leave it be already? Let it be over and good bloody riddance — but no she still gives me that fucking look._ _As if she’s not also at fault, like she didn’t just stand there and let them talk about someone none of them knew anything really about. And now — can’t she just listen—_

“No. Like I said. All the movement is in the wrist, stop waving your arm around,” he said through gritted teeth, then muttered, “I’ve told you this like three times already.”

“Oh gods, can’t you see that I’m just bad at this?! I’m useless. I'll never be able to do this properly, and like you said in charms, if I can’t do it properly then I’ll never get better, so I might as well just stop now becaus--” 

He shouldn’t have yelled, and it wasn’t a lie that guilt pooled deep in his stomach when he saw her cry. He hadn’t meant to yell, that too wasn’t a lie — although the rest of it was. 

~~~

As they left they heard footsteps, Delphini ran up to them. 

“Guys, I don’t know what just happened but the Marauders are coming, we should really g-”

Sure enough, around the corner appeared the Marauders. They walked in and saw an obviously upset Scarlette and Elias with his arm around her shoulder, as well as a panting Delphini. James saw red. 

“What happened here?” He asked Scarlette, concerned. She hiccuped in response and Elias tried to steer her away, but it was too late. 

“Scar, come here.” Scarlette slowly walked toward James, saying to Elias, 

“It’s okay, really. I’ll see you at dinner.” This was all he needed to hear and he walked away, pausing to look behind him and make sure everything was alright, and then disappearing. 

“What did he do?” James asked her, settling down on the floor, bringing her and the rest of the Marauders with him to the ground. 

“It wasn’t him. It was my uselessness. James, really, it’s not Elias.” She spoke earnestly, and Sirius said, 

“But clearly something happened that upset you. What was it?” Scarlette looked down at the floor.   
“Noth-” Remus cut her off. 

“Lette, dear. It’s clear that something has happened, so please just tell us… it’s no use lying to Sirius or James when they’re like this…” Scarlette looked up at the boys and whispered,

“I’m really awful at wand magic. Elias was trying to help. He was trying so hard but there’s no reason for me to be this pitiful. He got frustrated, understandably, and yelled at me. It’s all my fault, really.” She watched the mixed reactions from the boys. James was fuming, his face a soft pink and mumbling under his breath. Sirius looked downright insulted as it dawned upon him that Elias had yelled at their golden girl. Remus looked shaken, but he was calmer than the rest and Peter was sitting on the side, listening closely, but looking clueless. 

“I’ll knock him about if I have to. This is beyond ridiculous, Scarlette you’re too pure for this nonsense. Let me  _ talk _ to him.” Sirius said, with an almost deadly glare in his eyes. She looked at him in fright and said quickly, 

“No, no, no, no, no!” James hushed her and said, 

“Where’s he gone? We’d just like a chat, is all.” Scarlette looked at the boys and shook her head. 

“Please, just stop. He hasn’t done anything! I know your methods… please just stop.” Sirius looked at Scarlette disbelievingly. 

“So, let me just go over this. He hasn’t done anything, he’s a good boy, yet he’s been causing you pain for the last two weeks?” Scarlette looked up at the boy when he had finished speaking. 

“No. He apologized and explained your ghastly behavior! I have half a mind to- to” James and Sirius shook their heads,

“To what, Lette?”

“To ignore you.” The boys scoffed and James said, 

“But we’re your friends.” Scarlette looked at the boy and said sharply, 

“If you boys are going to be my friends you have to be nice to the people I consider  _ my _ friends.” Remus and Peter nodded and James and Sirius smirked but closed the subject. 

~~~

Delphini walked into a corridor near the library, genuinely anxious to begin reading her book, but stopped short when she heard someone raising their voice. Upon listening a bit more, her stomach dropped when she realized that the voice was  _ Elias _ . She broke into a run, attempting to pinpoint the source. If Elias was angry, even if it was justified, it would just give the Marauders an excuse to ostracize him. By time she rounded a corner and saw Elias and Scarlette walking out of an empty classroom, she was out of breath. She reached them in a few strides, attempting to formulate some warning. 

“Guys, I don’t know what just happened but the Marauders are coming, we should really g-” She was cut off by the Marauders rounding the corner, James at the front of the pack. Delphini swallowed thickly, shoulders tensing as her brain raced through worse case scenarios. She sought out Sirius, but his attention was on Elias. 

“What happened here?” James broke the heavy silence first. He had directed the question at Scarlette, who looked reluctant to answer. Elias attempted to direct Scarlette away, but James spoke up again before he could. “Scar, come here.” He implored, and Scarlette said something softly to Elias before she approached James. The Marauders were quick to encircle her, leading her away and asking her about what had happened. 

Delphini turned to Elias, who cast one last glance at the Marauders before retreating down the opposite end of the hall. She was left in the middle of the corridor, standing alone.

Delphini did not often sulk. She was very much the pick-yourself-up-and-try-again type of person. However, after the monumental crack in her social world, Delphini felt as though she could use a good moping session. She did not cry, she almost never cried, but she was visibly upset as she walked into the Hufflepuff common room. She felt as though she had  _ just  _ begun to truly bring her friends together, and now things were worse than they had been at the start. Her mind was heavy and crowded as she tucked her legs onto a plush, yellow couch in the dappled sunlight of the common room. The room was warm and cheery, it always was, but that only served to make Delphini feel as though she was out of place. She felt as though she were a deep spot of blue-grey, nestled among the cozy yellows and greens of the space. Her book was sitting in her lap, open and unread. 

“You good?” Delphini’s head snapped up. Mara was sitting across from her, eyes fixed on the book. 

“What? I-uhm- yeah, I’m fine,” Delphini stammered. Mara chuckled, tossing her dark hair out of her face. 

“You know,” She began, drawing out the last word “The Hufflepuffs have a bonfire every year.” Delphini blinked, confused.

“A bonfire? Why would we have a bonfire?” Delphini asked, shutting her book and leaning on the edge of the couch. 

“It’s for Halloween. Apparently, we all go around back by the forbidden forest and tell scary stories. Some of the older kids told me about it, you should come.” Mara raised an eyebrow in anticipation. Delphini hesitated, hurriedly assessing the pros and cons. She wasn’t good with people, but Mara seemed like she could get by with almost anyone. As long as she stuck close by Mara, she would be alright. After a long pause, Delphini inhaled sharply.

“Sure, I’ll go.” She tried to make it sound as casual as she could, but her voice didn’t cooperate. Still, Mara didn’t seem to mind, and her face broke out in a wide grin.

“Great. I’ll meet you here at eight on Halloween night,” With that, Mara pushed herself to standing and walked towards the Girl’s dormitory. Delphini was still sitting exactly where she had been, but she felt as though something significant had changed. 

~~~

Delphini and Scarlette began to meet in the library when Elias was otherwise occupied and reveled in their shared love of books. On a day in early October, Scarlette was sitting in her favorite corner, when the Marauders popped in. Confused, she sat up and watched as the boys scoured the rows until James stumbled upon her. Quickly, he loudly proclaimed his find, to Madam Pince’s dismay, and the rest of the group stumbled over. Sirius led the charge. 

Scarlette smiled at the approaching boy and noticed his eyes darkening as she watched him. Sirius suddenly spoke, his voice sounding darker and his eyes tracing the ceiling. 

“Lette, do you know about the Sacred 28?” Scarlette shook her head and noticed how Remus’ face paled. James picked up from Sirius. 

“The wizarding world has always been divided. You know that Muggles have always been considered lesser than wizards and the pure bloods always have had it out for them. You’ve heard of Gellert Grindelwald, I’m sure?” Scarlette nodded. “Well, the sacred 28 are twenty eight pure blooded families. Sirius here is from one of them, the Blacks, and he’s related to your Elias, who is from the Rosiers. They’re connected to the Lestranges who are connected to the Malfoy’s. All the families are interwoven deeply and usually connected in other ways too. They are all in constant communication, and are known for some” He cleared his throat. “Some not too great antics. It's really quite interesting, but they’re bad news for half bloods and muggleborns.” 

Scarlette looked anxiously about, and muttered.

“I’m a halfblood…” James nodded at her revelation. 

“So am I. Remus is too. Not too sure what Pettigrew is…” Peter looked up, and said, 

“I’m a pureblood.” They all looked at him uneasily. 

“Well, anyways,” James continued, “Rosier and Crouch and Malfoy, as well as that Snape character aren’t good. You don’t understand how unfit you are for this house. You should be with us, in Gryffindor.” Scarlette shook her head. 

“Boys, listen, I’m quite sad that we aren’t in the same house, but we spend so much time together and we’ve all been sorted according to our strengths. I’m in Slytherin, and though, from what I’ve found I am not a typical Slytherin I am mostly happy with my placement. I’ve met same minded people,” At this, James eyed her suspiciously, “No, I’m not a pure-blood supremacist, relax. People there are intelligent and mostly kind. Let’s all just take a step back from trying to convert me. ALSO” she said loudly, causing a shhhhh from Madam Pince, “Elias isn’t like that. Boys- I’m serious” Sirius looked up and began to say

“No- I’m Sir-”

“Oh do shut up. Elias is different. He’s a sweet caring lovely boy whom I consider to be one of my closest friends! Please!” The boys all looked at her with either appreciation or pity, but nevertheless James said, 

“Okay. Just know, I won't stop trying.” She smiled at him. 

“Good luck.” The boys scattered and she continued to read, waiting for Delphini to come round. 

Later that week, Scarlette and Lily were walking around the lake, looking at the beautiful waters and laughing about their classmates. Looking up a tall hill, Scarlette spotted a boy sitting under a tree. She pointed it out to Lily and they both began walking towards the figure. It was Severus Snape, reading. Before he looked up at the girls he had the most peaceful and serene look that Scarlette had ever seen him have. When he did look up he first looked suspicious, then he saw the two girls approaching and broke into a small smile. Lily asked,

“Sev, what on Earth are you doing here?” He chuckled at her surprise. 

“Evans, I come out here to read all the time, why are you so surprised?” His tone was harsh, but his eyes told Scarlette that he was trying his best to joke. Lily shrunk back slightly, and Scarlette said, 

“Severus, why are you out here? Lily and I were just in the library, you could’ve joined us…” Severus smiled at the girl and said, 

“Some of my classmates are exceedingly arrogant, and seem to labor under the delusion that the entire wizarding world is impressed with them. They bore me.” Scarlette watches him. 

“Are you perhaps speaking about the Marauders?” Severus looked at Scarlette, and asked, 

“Am I?” She looked at Lily, who had spaced out. 

“Lils? Let's invite Severus to join us…” Severus chuckled and shook his head. 

“No you two go on without me, I’ll sit with you at breakfast tomorrow.” The girls bid him farewell and continue on their walk. 

Time passed rather quickly at Hogwarts, and soon it was a week before Halloween. Nothing too strange had happened, except the Marauders (mainly James and Sirius) cornering Scarlette whenever they could to try and convince her to become a Gryffindor. She was becoming increasingly anxious, making sure they weren’t lurking behind her, or watching them closely if they were in proximity. 

Five days before Halloween something very strange happened. Scarlette was walking up the steps to Charms with Elias and Malfoy at both her sides, and she felt something highly unusual. In one second she is walking up the stairs in her reality and next it seemed like she was in a dream. She looked around for a split second and then saw the color lilac; everywhere.

Next thing she saw was black and she felt herself falling down the stairs slowly, as if defying gravity. When she woke up Malfoy was standing above her, clearly concerned, as well as Elias who had rushed down to help her. She got up and felt a bruise forming on her back, most likely where she fell. Malfoy helped her up carefully and Elias looked shaken. 

“Hemmingway, fainting in the staircase isn’t exactly the point of school,” Malfoy said quietly, but he looked very worried. 

“Letti, are you alright? Did you slip? What happened? I didn’t see you fall? Malfoy…?” Elias rushed up to her with millions of questions. Malfoy considered Elias before saying, 

“She very clearly fainted. I saw her roll back and close, then she stood still before collapsing down the stairs,” Then he addressed Scarlette. “We should get you to the hospital wing…” Scarlette stood up carefully, her legs shaking slightly. 

“No, I’m alright Lucius, thank you.” Elias stepped in and said, 

“For once I agree with Malfoy, let’s get you to the wing.” They all walk peacefully together, both of the boys carefully watching Scarlette for signs of another fall. 

“Boys really I’m oka-” Malfoy interrupted her. 

“Shut up. You’re going to Madam Pomfry and that’s final.” Elias looked up at the other boy's harsh tone. 

“I’ll take her for the rest of the walk, you go to class Malfoy.” Malfoy eyed him up and down. 

“Careful boy, remember your superiors.” Elias scoffed and took Scarlette by the arm. Scarlette watched as Malfoy got smaller and smaller in the distance. 

“Elias, I feel awful I-” Elias looked at her in concern and stopped walking. 

“Where? Do you need me to do something? What's wrong? Letti?” Scarlette looked at him, and responded, 

“No, no I’m alright, just lightheaded, I feel bad about Malfoy, he wanted to help…” Elias sighed at her words. 

“And you don’t think there’s even a sliver of possibility that he’s got ulterior motives?” Scarlette shook her head slightly and began to walk in the opposite direction of the hospital wing. 

“Elias, dear, it’s not like he’s a rabid animal! He’s a very sweet boy, and-” She paused, looking at his doubt-ridden face. 

“ _ And _ ” she continued, “He’s proved to be quite a fascinating individual. I’ve learned some interesting things thanks to him.” She watched as Elias paled slightly. 

“What sort of things?” He asked nervously. 

“Ancient magic, he’s helped me on my research about the school, and even though he’s part of the sacred 28 he’s explained the intricacies of pureblood life. It all seems very depressing.” She eyed him curiously and continued to back away from the hospital wing stairs. He finally snapped out of his haze to say, 

“It’s my normal.” Then he noticed that she had snuck farther away. He smiled and said, “Alright I see you, and there’s no way of getting out of going to the hospital wing, come on.” Scarlette sighed and trudged up to the hospital wing. They walked inside the large room and Scarlette’s eyes widened. From what she assumed, the hospital wing would be dingy and dimly lit. This was incredible. The ceiling was as high as the common room was and there were giant windows peering outside. All the beds looked comfortable and there was a small room in the back, most likely, Scarlette summarized, for the nurse who worked all twenty four hours of the day. As they stood there a kind looking lady approached them. She was dressed as a nurse and had a very sweet feeling around her. 

“Hello children. My name is Madam Pomfrey, what can I help you with?” She smiled at them, and Elias said, 

“Scarlette here fainted while we were walking up to Charms. She fell down the stairs, and we don’t know why she lost consciousness.” Madam Pomfrey looked at Scarlette in concern.

“Dear, did anything strange affect you? Did any student perhaps stun you?” Scarlette shook her head. 

“No, Madam. I just saw-” she paused, debating what to say and decided to not say much. 

“I just felt light-headed and then saw black. I’m alright,” Elias looked at her sharply, “ _ Really, _ I’m alright, I think I bruised myself a bit.” Madam Pomfrey led the girl to a bed. 

“Did you have herbology earlier today?” Scarlette nodded. ‘It could’ve been an after-shock of the mandrakes, I assume you’re both first years?” They nodded. “Alright, I’ll get a potion for you.” She hurried away right as Malfoy walked in with Crouch at his side. He saw Scarlette sitting on the edge of a bed, Elias standing over her, and decided to go over. 

“Hemmingway, that was quite the fall. What did Pomfrey say?” Elias started at the sound of Malfoy’s voice. 

“What are you-” Scarlette cut off Elias. 

“Hello boys, Madam Pomfrey told me it must’ve been aftershocks from the mandrakes.” Malfoy nodded, and Crouch scowled. 

“Yes, madrakes are disgusting creatures.” Scarlette looked at Crouch. 

“Barty, you mustn't say that! They’re just babies after all.” Crouch laughed hollowly and looked over at Elias. 

“Rosier, what’re you doing here?” Elais considered Crouch with great disdain. 

“I was the one who brought Scarlette here.” Malfoy meanwhile watched Scarlette with an emotion similar to worry, but slightly malicious. Elias’ eyes flickered between Malfoy and Crouch suspiciously. Crouch looked at Elias and said to him, 

“Malfoy has a free period right now, and you and I should get to charms. Flitwick was asking about you…” Elias seemed hesitant to leave Scarlette alone with Malfoy. Scarlette saw his conflict and said, 

“Go on, and please tell Flitwick I’ll do my best to get to class but I don’t know if that’ll happen today.” Elias nodded and asked, 

“Are you sure you don’t want me here?” Scarlette smiled. 

“Elais I always  _ want _ you here, but I know that you  _ need _ to go to class, silly!” Elias smiled and let Crouch lead him away. Scarlette watched them leave and then turned her attention to Malfoy. 

“So, Lucius, what brings you here?” Malfoy shrugged. 

“I don’t trust Rosier. I came to see if he’d done anything. When you passed out he just- stood there. It was very strange. Speaking of which, why  _ did _ you pass out?” As Scarlette considered her answer, Madam Pomfrey hurried over, interrupting her train of thought. 

“Hello Mr. Malfoy, shouldn’t you be in class?” Malfoy chuckled at the woman. 

“Hello to you as well, I have a free. I’m here to make sure Lette is okay.” Pomfrey studied Malfoy carefully. 

“Alright, Mr. Malfoy.” Then she turned her attention to Scarlette. 

“Here you are dear, drink that and you’ll feel better.” Scarlette thanked Pomfrey and took the potion. Pomfrey walked away and Scarlette thoughtfully swirled the potion in the vial. Malfoy watched her carefully and then asked quietly, 

“Hemmingway, what did you see?” Scarlette nearly dropped the potion. Malfoy smirked at her shock. She looked at him in surprise, asking in hushed tones, 

“Lucius what makes you think I saw something?” Malfoy’s smirk turned to a wicked smile. 

“Well,  _ darling _ ” She shuddered at the poisonous way he said the word, “I was just asking to see your reaction, and I had a hunch, now I see that I was correct.” Scarlette shivered and he motioned to his cloak, which she took. Once she was wrapped in the cloak, Malfoy asked again.

“Lette,” He asked gently, with dangerous undertones, “What. Did. You. See.” He hissed the word ‘see’ and she looked into his eyes, which darkened instantly. He held contact until she looked away, and she said, 

“I saw something, but I can’t be sure. It’s probably nothing.” Malfoy’s eyes sparkled with interest. 

“Do tell…” She looked down at the potion and placed it on the table. 

“I- there was a flash of purple-” Malfoy’s eyes lit up,

“What shade?” She answered, 

“Lilac.” Malfoy looked out of a window, and said, 

“Those sparks in September, remember?” Scarlette nodded. 

“Yes, I can produce them anytime, why?” Malfoy refocused on her. 

“Show me.” She put her hands together and closed her eyes. Slowly, the sparks began to form and she shot them into the ceiling. She watched them and a thought resurfaced in her mind; the sparks and the light are connected. The weird flash and pull of the forest, all had the signature lilac color. Malfoy watched her, curiously and she looked at him. 

“What else did you see, Lette?” His gentle tone prompts the rest of the vision to resurface. 

“I- I saw everything become black. I felt myself falling…” her voice trails off, spiralling into the vision. She shook herself and said, “then I woke up. You were standing over me and Elias came down the stairs.” Malfoy nodded. 

“You’ve been through something very strange. Drink the potion, I’ll take you outside, you need air.” She nodded and he settled himself at the foot of the bed as she drank the potion. She got up unsteadily and Malfoy stood next to her. She gave him back his cloak and they walked out together. Scarlette waved to Madam Pomfrey as they walked out and Pomfrey waved back, calling softly, 

“I hope I don’t see you here again anytime soon. Be well!” Scarlette smiled as she and Malfoy walked down the stairs. She turned left, towards Charms but was quickly stopped by Malfoy gripping her arm.

“Where are you headed, Hemmingway?” Scarlette shook off his hand and said,

“Charms. I feel well, and I don’t want Elias to worry.” Malfoy shook his head. 

“You’re going to come on a walk with me, it’ll do you well, to be outside.” Scarlette shrugged and said, 

“Alright, but if Elias ends you, you can’t blame me.” Malfoy smirked.

“He can’t.” 

They walked on the grounds together, Scarlette acting much more sophisticated and rigid than usual. Malfoy notices and asks, 

“Hemmingway, do I scare you?” Scarlette looks out onto the lake. She contemplates the answer. 

“Not quite, Lucius. I’m interested in you. You’re- new to me.” He cocked his head in her direction. 

She didn’t quite realize how tall he was until this moment. She also didn’t notice his stature before. This boy standing in front of her was beautiful, in a dangerous way. In a space of five seconds she came to several conclusions. First, the boy looked like a fallen angel, his hair platinum blonde but his clothes a deep, unsettling black. His mane of hair blew in the wind so gracefully, but it seemed the grace was forced. Second, he was much richer than she first concluded. His robe that was draped over her in the hospital wing was made of some special silk, not easily bought. Third, he was much, much taller than her, as well as one year her senior, and yet he spent as much time as he could with her. This troubled Scarlette greatly, for she had observed his kind before, and he had to be getting something out of her company. Fourth, and last, that he was wounded. There was the question of the switch he could flip between kindness and manipulation, sharpness and calmness that shook her. She had realized that she was bonded to him somehow. She owed him her support and love, even if he was cruel, and maybe that way, she could save him. She didn’t pity him, but instead worried about him. What she felt for the boy could not be described as love, ou countraire, it was a fierce determination to save him from the other factors. (Scarlette’s parents always told her jokingly that she played the hero, and then seriously, that she couldn't always save everyone. She didn’t believe that.) 

She looked back up at him, and he saw the change in her demeanor, and was softened by it. “Hemmingway,” he said, softly, 

“Lucius, let me ask you something…” He nodded and she sat down on the grass. He followed suit and she asked, “do you want me to be frightened of you?” He looked down at the ground. 

“That’s not my direct intention, no. Sometimes,” and she saw a brief pain flash across his eyes and instinctively put her hand over his, letting him continue, “sometimes fear and pain are the only ways people listen…” Scarlette let his words drift over her in a cool wash of fear, like a wintery breeze in Autumn. 

“You know that’s not right, Luc.” He looked at her with a genuine smile on his face. 

“Luc… I quite like that…” He contemplated the name. The bell rang again and Scarlette gathered herself up. He looked at her and said softly, “Hemmingway, wait.” She turned, surprised, and saw he had his signature smirk on his face. She stood, and he said, 

“This was nice. Don’t get used to it.”

“I suppose I’ll only receive your kindness in doses?” Malfoy looked at her. 

“I suppose so. Run along  _ Lette _ , you’re late for herbology.” 

~~~

Halloween night approached with frightening speed. Things did not seem to improve in Delphini’s social life, though the days seemed determined to speed by with reckless abandon regardless. The weeks melted into one another, the individual days only separated by the difference in schedules. Delphini found solace with Dirk and Mara, neither of whom were aware of everything happening with the Marauders and her other friends. The three of them sat together in classes, spent their breaks in the courtyard or the library, and generally enjoyed the bit of escapism from their crowded lives. Mara was a welcome addition to her and Dirk’s already existing routine, and she provided a sarcastic wit that Delphini was often too anxious to utilize herself. 

Dirk was also invited to the Halloween bonfire, though he seemed much more excited over the prospect than Delphini had been. He made his thoughts known on the day of the bonfire, when the two of them were walking to their last class. 

“Think about it, Del!” He had adopted the nickname shortly after Scarlette. “A whole night to get ourselves out there with the cool kids! It’ll be like a debutante ball!” Delphini scoffed at the comment. 

_ “ _ Dirk, we’re in  _ hufflepuff _ . I’m pretty sure there aren’t any cool kids. Even if there were, what cause have I to socialize with them? They’d hate me.” Dirk placed a hand over his chest in mock affront. 

“There are plenty of cool kids in hufflepuff!” There’s me,” Delphini chuckled. “Mara, that third-year with the curly hair, and those’re just the ones that I know! There could be a whole world of untapped social potential!” He exclaimed. Delphini crossed her arms, unconvinced. “Besides, they’d love you! You’re all smart and-” He paused, struggling to find any other adjectives. “Fun.” Delphini openly laughed, shoulders shaking with the force of it. Once she was able to reign in her chuckles, she spoke again. 

“ Dirk. I appreciate the effort, but it really isn’t necessary. I’ll just stick by you and Mara and do my best not to humiliate myself completely.” Despite her efforts, Dirk remained determined to convince her of the potential the bonfire held. After a few moments of silence, he formulated a response. 

“I’m sure you’re wrong. You’ll see, we’ll get there and everything will be-” He stopped speaking abruptly, causing Delphini to look over at him. At first, she couldn’t identify what had derailed Dirk’s speech. Just as she was about to ask, though, someone spoke up from in front of the pair. 

“Hey, Piscus.” Sirius’ voice was low and relaxed, but Delphini felt Dirk’s hackles rise beside her. Dirk stepped forward, almost imperceptibly. Delphini looked between the two for a few seconds before realizing that the tense silence was drawing out far longer than it should. 

“Sirius- uhm- can I help you?” She asked, attempting to avoid any inflammatory subjects. Sirius assessed Dirk for a few seconds, sizing him up. Delphini squared her shoulders. 

“You going somewhere tonight? There’s been chatter all over the school about dances and bonfires, I was wondering if you had plans.” He shifted his weight to the other foot, eyes darting between Dirk and Delphini. 

“Yes, actually, Delphini and I were going to attend the Hufflepuff bonfire.” Dirk spoke before Delphini got the chance. Sirius raised his eyebrows. 

“Sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Sirius Black, and you are-?” He looked at Dirk expectantly. Dirk did not relax. 

“Dirk Cresswell.” He said, tone clipped. He stood a bit shorter than Delphini, and well below Sirius. 

“Ah, I don’t think I’ve heard the name around before. Well, I really should be getting on to class now. Piscus, you’re always welcome in the Marauders if you decide to ditch the bonfire,” His voice rang out in the corridor as he passed the pair. Some of the tension uncoiled from Dirk’s shoulders, but it was clear that he was still on edge. 

“What was  _ that _ ?” Delphini questioned, once they were out of earshot. Dirk ran a hand through his hair. 

“I don’t know what you mean.” There was still a note of aggression in his tone. Delphini rolled her eyes. 

“Yes, you do. You were getting so defensive back there!” She gestured to the hall behind them to emphasize her point. 

“I just don’t trust him, that’s all. He’s a pureblood, they don’t like folks like us.” Dirk explained, as though Delphini were unaware of the ideologies of some pureblood families. 

“Sirius isn’t like that, though! He’s rude and he’s a troublemaker, but he doesn’t think like that.” She assured him. Dirk seemed unconvinced, but he knew Delphini well enough to drop the subject. The two kept walking, the silence between them growing heavy. 

~~~

The Great Hall was dripping with decorations for the Halloween feast; somehow the entire castle seemed more alive and magical than usual, with ghosts singing and dancing through the halls, and floating pumpkins illuminating everything in a warm glow. Elias was glad to be sitting with just Delphini and Scarlette during the feast, although a part of him couldn’t help turning to see Alfalfa having a seemingly boring conversation with Severus and feeling a twinge of guilt. He had apologized several times to Scarlette for yelling (the more he had thought about it throughout the day the worse and worse he felt, and he knew it would have been wrong not to say anything), and Scarlette appeared to be understanding, but still he felt like the ground was shifting, and there was that look. Still, he sipped his butterbeer, and smiled.

After the feast, he stayed back as Scarlette walked towards the dormitory, and waited for Alfalfa by the staircase. They went down together, talking about nothing in particular, and once they reached the party, they found a nice empty couch pushed up against a far wall, and decided that would be their sanctuary.

“Why do you always eat with the Hufflepuffs?” Alfalfa asked after a few moments of silent chocolate-cauldron eating.

“Same reason I didn’t want to come to this party.” Elias said simply.

“Do you have friends in Hufflepuff?” Elias looked up quickly, deliberating on an answer

“Oh,” he shrugged, “not really no. I mean— yes, I have one, but she’s not like a very good friend. I suppose they’re just nicer.” 

“What about that red haired girl that joins you?” he nods towards Scarlette, Elias cringed to see she was waltzing with Crouch. “She’s a Slytherin, you must be her friend?”

“I— I don’t know,” it was an honest answer, “what about you, do you have friends in other houses?” 

“No, I’ve met some Ravenclaws who are nice, but like you said, not good friends. I have friends back home though, I miss them a lot.” Alfalfa said solemnly.

“Are they your age? Why weren’t they accepted to Hogwarts?” Now it was Alfalfa’s turn to look up in the face of a question he didn’t want to answer.

“Er— well, they’re um…” his voice quieted and he glanced around the room, “they’re muggles, they think I’ve gone off to a normal boarding school…” he paused for a mom ent and his voice got even quieter, to the point where Elias had to lean in to hear him, “please don’t tell anyone, I’ve heard some of the other boys talking about mudbloods, and how like, being friends with muggles is wrong, and I just— I don’t want people to think that I’m like— I don’t know… a worse wizard o-or something.” 

“Y-yeah okay, I won’t tell anyone — are you a halfblood?” Elias knew the kinds of things “the other boys” would say, although he wasn’t sure if they all truly believed in it. He had heard the word “mudblood” many times, tossed around by visiting friends or family members in jokes or scornful political conversations, he knew what it meant, and while he supposed it bothered him, he never really thought much about it. His family was pureblood, yes, but he was allowed to learn about certain aspects of muggle society. His music teacher, with his parents permission, allowed him to learn and play certain pieces by muggle artists, and sometimes his uncle would bring him muggle books from the muggle and wizard town where he lived, and although that was pretty much all of his limited experience, it just never mattered. 

“N-no, I’m a— um — a muggle-born.” Alfalfa picked at the crumbs of his chocolate cauldron nervously.

“Oh, well, that’s alright!” Elias smiled at him. Yes, of course he had heard people say how muggles and muggle-borns were inferior, but from his own experience, they made good music, and wrote good books, and he really did like Alfalfa, so he didn’t see a reason for it not to be alright. “I won’t tell anyone about that either, if you don’t want.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Alfalfa beamed at him, and held up his bottle of pumpkin juice, “cheers?”

“Why?” Elias asked.

“Why not?” Alfalfa’s grin widened when Elias shrugged and raised his bottle as well.

“Well then, cheers!”

~~~

Before she knew it, it was Halloween. Scarlette had noticed decorations appear through the week, but these were spectacular. The Great Hall was ablaze with orange and black, the candles dimmer and the school ghosts putting on a show. Dumbledore stood and gave a short speech which ended with BOO! and a wide response of AHHHHH! The feast was the most spectacular one she has encountered in her life. 

An array of pumpkin flavored treats, as well as corn and turkey appeared on the tables. It was delightful as she sat with Elias and Delphini, occasionally sneaking over to the Gryffindor’s table to steal butterbeer. The night was joyous and everyone left the hall with smiles. 

Malfoy, Crouch and Snape all walked down with Scarlette, Elias trailing behind, chattering at her together. As they neared the common room they saw Slughorn standing there, and a small pit formed in Scarlette’s stomach. Malfoy instinctively stood closer to her. It was time for the dance.

“Hello, Miss Hemmingway! Come through!” She smiled at the jolly man and entered the common room. It was all decked up in the decorations, but all the couches had been moved, and an enchanted starry floor was set out. Deep classical music was playing and an emerald green light filtered down into the room. The boys followed her in, and she saw all of Slytherin house standing around, or dancing. Her dorm mates smiled at her, and Narssisa rushed up to Lucius. 

“Hi Lucius!” She sang, “Would you like to dance with me?” Malfoy looked at her with slight interest. 

“Alright, Lestrange.” She skipped off with him and Scarlette smiled at the pair. Something told her Narssisa Lestrange had a crush. Elias had snuck into a corner of the room and she watched his eyes flicker around the room, watching people. Crouch tapped her on her shoulder and she jumped. 

“Hemingway-” She smiled at him. 

“Just call me Scarlette, I think we’re well enough acquainted…” He attempted a smile and then asked, 

“Scarlette, would you like to dance?” Scarlette laughed to herself and accepted. She had only ever learned how to ballroom dance, her father had taught her, and so she and Crouch spun slowly to the music that was playing. She was surprised the boy had such ease, especially keeping in mind that he was… slimy. They danced for what seemed like a minute but was probably ten, and then he bowed slightly and walked away. Scarlette made her way over to Elias, who was talking to one of her dorm mates. 

~~~

Alfalfa had been stolen away by a nervous looking blonde girl, and Elias couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched them trip over each other’s feet on the dance floor. 

“Hey!” A girl had suddenly appeared next to him, she had short dark hair and Elias was sure that if he stood up they would be nearly the same height.

“Oh, um, h-hello?” He looked at her confused.

“I’m Susan! What’s your name?” She had her hands on her hips and seemed to be expecting something, though Elias had no idea what.

“Er- Elias, w-why?” She giggled a bit, which confused him even more as he was sure he hadn’t said anything funny.

“Well, Elias, do you want to dance with me?” She smiled and held out her hand, as if he was predisposed to say yes and sweep her onto the dance floor.

“Um…”  _ What’s the protocol for this? Do I have to say yes? Merlin’s beard I really don’t want to — I don’t even know her!  _ “… no?” Her face fell into what looked like genuine shock.

“What? Why not?”

“I— I’m really — um, I’m really not a good dancer.” It was a lie, he loved dancing, but not in front of people, and definitely not with someone he doesn't know.

“Fine, whatever.” She rolled her eyes and walked away to find another, but he wasn’t alone for long. He saw Scarlette approach him from across the room and the music suddenly felt louder than it was moments before. 

~~~

As she approached the girl stormed away and Scarlette asked, 

“What happened?” Elias shook his head and laughed, 

“Oh er- I’m not very good at dancing, wouldn’t want to embarrass her…” He trailed off while Scarlette had an idea.

“What if I could teach you?” Elias contemplated her offer and responded, 

““No— no thank you that’s alright, I-” She noticed his voice soften, “I really don’t like crowds and there are a lot of people already dancing and it’s just very loud, I’m sorry” She thought about ways to convince him, and then suddenly someone swooped into her field of vision. It was Malfoy. 

“Hello Scarlette, I just noticed that Rosier isn’t polite enough to accept your offer; and I’d be  _ more than happy _ to go in his place.” Scarlette looked at Elias over Malfoy’s shoulder, and he was frantically shaking his head, clearly against the idea. She considered it, but before she could respond Malfoy grabbed her hand and waltzed away with her. She briefly saw Elias’ worried face, but figured she was along for the ride. They danced, and Malfoy whispered into her ear, 

“Well, well. Who’ve thought that I’d have  _ the _ Hemmingway as my dance partner?” Scarlette smiled, and they slowly spun to the edge of the circle. 

~~~

The bonfire was unlike anything Delphini had ever been to. Her and Dirk met in the common room ten minutes before eight, both dressed in somewhat formal clothes. Delphini had agonized over the choice, eventually deciding on her boots with some dark grey stockings to go with a maroon dress with a white collar. At the last minute she’d grabbed her cardigan, worried about how cold the late-october wind would be. Dirk had on a button up and some slacks, something that could pass as more casual or last minute if he wanted it to. Mara arrived exactly at eight, wearing jeans and a cable-knit sweater. The three of them looked strange and mismatched as they made their way around back of the castle, down past Hagrid’s hut and out to where the bonfire was taking place. 

A huge fire blazed atop a pile of kindlings and sticks, some stolen from the kitchens and some gathered from the edge of the forest. The students were pressed as close to the treeline as they dared to go, with some looking as old as sixth-years mingling with first-years like Dirk and Delphini. They were arranged in a rough circle surrounding the fire, all dressed to various levels of formality. Some were wearing their uniforms, some were dressed in evening wear, and some were wearing the signature black and yellow stripes of Hufflepuff. All of them, surprisingly, seemed happy to be there. 

Mara, Dirk, and Delphini settled in the middle of the group, close enough to the fire to feel its warmth and be illuminated by its glow. When they arrived, a tall, curly-haired boy had the attention of most of the attendees. 

“...and just then, he rounded the corner to see a massive Acromantula!” Several students gasped, and leery looks were cast to the trees beside them. The student telling the story paused for dramatic affect, but soon continued the story. Mara leaned in to whisper to Delphini and Dirk as the student spoke. 

“That’s Kiel Atherton. He’s a third-year, he told this story at the bonfire last year. It’s about a student who gets detention in the forbidden forest.” Delphini giggled, turning her attention back to the boy’s - Kiel’s- story. Her anxiety slowly began to wash away as she sat, bracketed by her friends on either side, and listened to harrowing tales of ordinary students encountering terrifying creatures. 

The night was cool and damp. The stars and moon were clear overhead as one student after another got up in front of the group to tell stories of ghosts and monsters lurking in the dark. The students huddled together for warmth and comfort, collectively cheering the hero on or gasping in fear as some new evil threatened the protagonist. Hogwarts rose above them all, huge and dotted with spots of warm light, and Delphini felt as though she were right where she should be. 

~~~

Elias watched from his couch as Scarlette and Lucius danced, he didn’t understand what version of him she was seeing. She acted so terrified of Elias when Sirius and James had told her those lies about him, but even after he tells her something real about Lucius’ family, and then Lucius scares her, Lucius is still somehow a good guy.  _ How can she not realize she’s in danger when she is around him? How can she possibly be so naive, if she’s just believing what she wants to, does she want me to be bad?  _ He stood up suddenly and marched across the dance floor, feeling a knot form in his stomach as, while he maneuvered through couples waltzing, the scene seemed all too familiar. 

“Actually, Scarlette, I think I’d like to take you up on that offer-” Elias said as he approached Scarlette and Lucius.

“What made you change your mind?” He didn’t answer, he would tell her later; he wasn’t sure when, just, later.

~~~

“Actually, Scarlette, I think I’d like to take you up on that offer-” Elias snuck up behind Malfoy and broke up the pairing. Malfoy watched the boy and said to Scarlette, 

“I was having a lovely time, maybe we’ll dance again sometime…” Scarlette nodded again and walked away with Elias. 

“What made you change your mind?” She asked, knowing there must be a reason. He thought for a moment, and then shrugged. “Lucius is a lovely dancer, you know.” Elias threw her a sideways glance and led her to a room off of the main common room. 

“With that form? Let me show you how it’s done…” He took her hand and they began a slow waltz. He led, with some resistance from Scarlette, who was used to being in equal control. 

They had established a smooth rhythm, stepping together silently, until a greasy haired boy intruded. Elias skittered away from Scarlette, his cheeks blossoming a deep red. 

“Hello, sorry for intruding, I was looking for Scarlette…” Scarlette looked at Snape.

“Well, you’ve found me…” Elias stepped forward and asked,

“Why?” Snape simply responded, 

“I saw her dancing with Malfoy, figured I like a go too.” Scarlette looked at the boy, and said, 

“Was that a question?” Snape nodded. Scarlette looked at Elias.

“Is it alright if I dance with him once? I’ll come right back…” Elias’ eyes flickered between the two, and tilted his head at Scarlette, 

“Why’re you asking for permission?” Scarlette looked confused. 

“Not permission-- I just wanted to know if it would be okay with you.” Elais said, 

“That sounds like a request for permission, but go on, it’s not my business.” 

Scarlette followed Snape out of the small room and they began to dance. Snape looked at the small girl and asked,

“What were you two doing in there?” Scarlette answered, 

“Dancing. He seems uncomfortable with the thought of dancing out here.” Snape looked at her again. 

“I heard that Lucius was looking for you…” Scarlette looked up in surprise. 

“You’re taking the mick! Why would he look for me?” Snape shrugged and twirled her about. 

“Haven’t got a clue. You’re a lovely dancer Hemmingway, where’d you learn?” Scarlette blushed at the compliment. 

“I’m average… my father taught me.” Snape’s dark eyes glittered. 

“I saw you with the Gryffindors again.” Scarlette looked at him blankly. 

“They’re my friends.” Snape led her to the edge of the circle and said, 

“Yes- so I’ve gathered. Goodnight, Hemmingway.” Scarlette gave him a mock curtsy and excused herself as well. She sat on a big couch and was joined by some of the girls from her dorm, and Crouch and Malfoy. They formed a circle and were showing their talents, Scarlette watching the girls, and the two boys watching her. Soon, the lights had dimmed more, and it was time for the remaining stragglers, (most of the kids had gone to bed, Elias included) to get to bed. Scarlette walked down the stairs with Brenda and the others, laughing softly about a joke Malfoy had told, and ready to pass out. She reached her bed, put on her pajamas and fell into a deep, deep sleep. 

~~~

Once Scarlette left he decided to go upstairs to the dormitory, just be alone for a little while. He took off his robes and sat down on his bed, his eyes drifted to the edge of his cello case, which had been collecting dust. He hadn’t played it since he got here, never quite sure if he would be bothering people or not. Kneeling down, he pulled it onto his bed and opened it, still not sure if he wanted to play. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed, with the cello resting against his leg, the bow frozen in place just above the strings. He listened for anyone coming up the stairs, it was too dark to read any sheet music he was working on, so instead he simply played the scales, up and down, over and over. 

The door creaked open, and he whipped around to see Alfalfa standing as a silhouette in front of the light from the hall. 

“I didn’t know you can play the cello,” he said, closing the door and walking to sit on his own bed, which was across from Elias’.

“Yeah, I’ve only been doing it for a few years though, so I’m not great.” Elias said, quickly putting the cello away, it was different from drawing, he didn’t want people watching.

“Hey, look at that!” Alfalfa nodded at two mermaids swimming past near the window.

“Yeah, I’ve seen them before.” He sighed. They were quiet for several moments, but Elias could feel Alfalfa itching to say something; after a little while longer he couldn’t bear it and asked, “what’s up?”

“What’d you mean?”

“You just seem like somethings’ on your mind.” He shrugged.

“Oh… yeah, I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“Um, well, I think we’re good friends, right?” 

“Y-yeah I’d say so,” he smiled.

“Well — It’s just — you — you look sad, a lot,” Elias was silent so Alfalfa continued, “are you sad? Like are you okay? Cause, my mum helps people who aren’t feeling okay, like it’s her job, and she told me that if I see someone who looks like they’re not feeling okay then I should always ask them about it — and you… you look sad when you’re not around people, so I was just wondering…” his voice quietly trailed off.

“I—,” he paused briefly, “y-yeah, I’m okay, I just haven’t been sleeping well so I guess I’m a bit tired, “ he said and smiled, “but thank you for asking Alfalfa.”

“You can call me Alfie, most people do.”


	10. The Bite of A Badger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor vs Slytherin...

In the second week of November, Elias pulled Del and Scarlette away from the warmth of Hogwarts to the cold, dreary, quidditch pitch. Scarlette had enjoyed quidditch when she was younger, but as she grew up she began to tire of the sport. Her father highly praised and supported the Chudley Cannons, a venture Scarlette found to be quite boring, but she and her father went to many of the games, (her mother wasn’t a big fan of quidditch either) and they’d spend a day or two in the stands cheering on chasers and seekers, and occasionally, bludgers.

On this day, Gryffindor and Slytherin were having the first match of the season and Elias was making a beeline for the stands, pulling Scarlette and Delphini along with him. Behind them were a group of Slytherins, and further behind them were the Marauders. Scarlette had been avoiding them particularly well over the last couple of days, and she knew they were angry with Elias and Del for “stealing her”.  _ I’m not their property nor do I have any wish to be around them right now… I don’t understand their needs to be the center of attention constantly. Remus is the only sensible one, by Merlin! _ They marched up some crowded stairs and emerged at the top of the stands, the grey clouds hovering over them ominously. The Gryffinor boys were separated from them because they had a different set of stands; this was originally a victory for Scarlette, but soon there were small scraps of paper propelled in her direction. She ignored them and continued talking to Elias about the game. Sounds soon filled the air as the two teams flew onto the field, tremendous applause following their entrance. 

~~~

It had been cloudy all day, with several students complaining about the chance of rain, especially after the clear skies they had been having for the past few weeks. Despite the threat of inclement weather, Elias was running through the halls, Scarlette and Delphini behind him, as fast as he could towards the quidditch pitch. It was the first game of the season after all, with Slytherin facing off against Gryffindor, so there was good reason to be excited (although Scarlette and Delphini seemed far less convinced). Elias absolutely adored quidditch. He had read every single quidditch related history book, newspaper article, biography, or magazine he could get his hands on and had quite his fair share of quidditch themed paraphernalia. When he was six his mother, father, and uncle brought him to the 1966 Quidditch World Cup; his governess had given him a pair of enchanted earmuffs so the crowd wouldn’t hurt his ears, and his parents let him have ice cream for dinner. After meeting the members of the Australian National Quidditch Team in the Minister’s box, he firmly decided that he too wanted to be Australian. Although, no matter how many times he begged, his parents never allowed him to get a broomstick -- they never explained why either.

He was glad to see that they were among the first on the stands, and pulled them right up to the first row. He had thrown out the pair of earmuffs years ago (primarily because he didn’t use them very often, but also because he always felt silly wearing them in public, especially during warmer months), so instead wrapped his green and silver scarf high enough on his neck that it covered his ears -- it wasn’t perfect but it was something. Glancing over at the people entering the stands he saw Alfalfa walking with the same blonde girl he had been dancing with at the Halloween party, they seemed to like each other, although Alfie had never mentioned her to him so perhaps he was wrong. Elias made a note to ask him about it later. Looking past them to the other houses’ stands he noticed James and Company (apparently they had started calling themselves “The Marauders,” which Elias found completely ridiculous, and he refused to  _ ever _ call them by it), Remus was attempting to grab what looked like a book out of the hands of James and Sirius, who were also trying to flick through random pages, tear out bits, and crumple them up into balls. Even from a distance Remus seemed to be on the brink of tears-- or murder. 

~~~

Delphini had never been very into sports. Her father had tried, bless him, to introduce them to her at a young age. He’d tried to show her Rugby, Football, and Quidditch. None of them had really stuck with her, but the issue had never really come up in her life. On a cold morning of early November, however, she felt as though she was being cosmically punished. Elias had dragged her and Scarlette out to the quidditch pitch, cold air whipping around them and the skies above them a dreary grey. As Delphini understood it, this was Gryffindor and Slytherin’s first match of the season, and Elias would not miss it. He seemed genuinely excited about the game, and for that Delphini was willing to bundle up in her black and yellow scarf and march down to the stands, hand-in-hand with her friends.

Elias, Delphini, and Scarlette settled near the top of the stands, with a view of the whole field and most of the other stands around them. The Marauders sat nearby, and cast some leery glances at Elias. Delphini, tired of their antics, stubbornly ignored them in favor of engaging with her friends. They didn’t have long to chat before Madame Hooch strode onto the field to kick off the game, and from that point Delphini could barely keep track of anything. The game was incredibly fast-paced and she had the barest understanding of Quidditch as a sport, though she was generally able to take cues from Elias’ reactions to events to understand what was happening. She got a few odd glances, being one of the only Hufflepuffs in attendance, but she was able to brush them off easily enough. As the game progressed, Gryffindor began gaining more and more of an upper hand and it was soon apparent that Slytherin would not be the victor. Still, when Gryffindor was officially declared the victor, Elias looked disappointed. 

~~~

“It’s alright, lads, you’ll get ‘em next time!” It was a weak attempt at consolation, but it still earned a smile from Scarlette. Elias seemed somewhat less convinced. 

“Of course Slytherin lost! Snakes have no arms, nevermind brains!” Exclaimed Sirius from somewhere behind the group. Delphini rolled her eyes, in no mood for Sirius’ ridiculous antagonism. 

“Slytherin? More like…. Loser-in!” James joined in on the mockery, and Delphini sighed. She had half a mind to turn around and yell at them, but the more sensible side of her suppressed that thought quickly. Delphini caught Scarlette looking over at James, who stumbled for a second. “Except Scarlette, of course, she’s different.” He amended. Frustration flared up within Delphini, but she quashed it down with practiced ease. Scarlette looked at James, preparing herself. 

“No, Potter I-” She paused, “I am what you said. Dont-” She cut herself off as James moved to speak, but Delphini stepped forward first. 

“At least Slytherins do things! I think that anyone would rather be clever and a hard worker than some idiot who doesn’t have anything better to do than to be a bully.” Her voice rang out for a few seconds, and she watched as the Marauders processed her words. Her heart was speeding as she grabbed Elias and Scarlette and began the walk back to the castle. Adrenaline was flowing freely through her veins, and by time she got back to the castle she felt as though she could shake apart at any moment. 

“Where should we go?” She asked, glancing around at her friends. 

“Library.” Elias replied after a moment, and the trio began walking towards the library. Delphini let her feet carry her while she thought over the ramifications of what had just happened.  _ If the Marauders didn’t like me before, then they definitely don’t like me now. I mean, I have asked them politely to stop antagonizing Elias, and I’ve tried to be nice to them repeatedly. Sirius seemed as though he was willing to change, I thought that maybe he would stop being so needlessly rude. I guess that won’t be happening now.  _

~~~

Elias stared at Delphini.  _ Did she really just--  _ he could have cried, or picked her up and spun her around, or both. He was so happy he almost didn’t care about the genuine hurt written across Remus’ face. For a moment he felt as though the veil of the past months had been lifted and it would be the three of them against it all and  _ she really wants me here doesn't she, she really actually wants me here.  _ He only realized that he was being pulled by Delphini down the hall at top speeds when--

“Whe re should we go?” 

“Library.” Elias said quickly, he’s not sure why though, it was simply the first place he thought of. He had been spending more and more time in the library; Alfie had a lot of difficulty in transfiguration so he began tutoring him on the weekends, and they always went to the library (or to this odd disused classroom just off of the library which they had discovered when Madame Pince chased them through the stacks with a broom after witnessing them attempting to turn a paper weight into a snail -- they went back the next day and were made to swear to her to never perform “disturbing spells” in her library ever again). Or he simply went there to read in his break hours, it was nice and quiet and he had a favorite chair which was tucked in a nook between two large windows looking over the lawn. There was a small section of the library dedicated to “Muggle Literature,” composed of muggle classics which most people (muggle or otherwise) don’t read unless prompted by a professor. Elias on the other hand found many of these books fascinating, the fictional stories seemed far more imaginative than any wizarding fables he had read, and he was quite confused when Alfie laughed at him for recommending works by an old English author (who he was sure he had never heard of before) named William Shakespeare. 

The trio reached the Library and followed Scarlette to a spot hidden amongst a set of crisscrossing stacks. They were sitting on the side of the room farthest from the windows and the lack of natural light called for a more excessive number of lanterns, all of which were clearly bewitched to be as bright as possible. Everytime he glanced up farther than Delphini’s head he was met with the artificial glare and it was beginning to give him a headache --  _ Merlin’s beard, why does Scarlette sit here? You can’t read if you’re bloody blind! I couldn’t ask Pince to dim them, could I? She already sort of hates me… could ask Scarlette or Del… _

“Do you know if we could ask for the lights to dim?”

~~~

“I’ll write a note and get it to Pince.” 

“I can do it, if you don’t want to get up?” Del said, looking up at Scarlette.

“I’m glad you’d do that for me but I was just going to write a note and blow it over... “ She looked at the blonde and smiled meekly. 

“You mean with wand magic?” Elias looked at her quizzically, Scarlette laughed. 

“No, silly! With wind!” 

“Pardon?” He asked and Scarlette watched them both as she finished the note and twirled her hand. Quickly, her hair began to billow around her and her note was picked up off of the table and floated over through the bookshelves, assumedly to Pince. Shortly after, the candles all dimmed and the large windows luminated the large room with grey soft light. The rain was pattering outside, adding a soft white noise to the kids’ gathering. Scarlette sat quietly listening to Delphini and Elias talk about the Gryffindors. 

“Why are they so mean?” Del looked over at Scarlette, eyebrow quirked. Scarlette shrugged and laughed softly. 

“I think they’re jealous.” 

“Jealous? Jealous of what?” Elias said sharply. Scarlette looked over at him with a soft smile and touched his hand reassuringly. 

“Us. The three of us. We must be one of the tightest groups in Hogwarts!” “You’re right.” Del laughed, looking over at Elias she added, “isn't she?” 

“Yeah, yeah she’s right,” he smiled, but there was a reserved note in his voice that worried Scarlette. 

~~~

“Us. The three of us. We must be one of the tightest groups in Hogwarts!” 

He had half the mind to ask her if she was serious. And even more than half the mind to pretend she was because the warmth of her hand on his arm made him wonder, if he pretended for long enough, it might actually become true.  _ No, those boys aren’t jealous of anything, they pinpoint those who they think are weaker and then open fire.  _

“You’re right,” Del said before turning to Elias, “isn’t she?” He paused for a brief moment, not quite sure of what to say, but he saw the hope in Scarlette’s eyes and put on a hopefully-natural smile.

“Yeah, yeah she’s right.” 

“Listen, I think we should go to dinner, just to see the boys and how they’re doing!” Scarlette said suddenly.  _ Of course. They make fun of your friends in front of you multiple times, but sure why not, let's check on how they’re feeling.  _ He clenched his fist under the table and said nothing.

“Why would we…?” Del asked,  _ thank you! They don’t deserve anything from us!  _

“Well, we  _ did _ storm off, rather rudely…” 

Elias could have screamed, but instead just bit down hard on his tongue.

“I guess… alright let’s go,” Delphini stood up, followed by Scarlette, and they both looked at Elias, who hadn’t moved.

“Common, lets go!” Scarlette said with a smile which Elias didn’t return.

“No thank you, I’ll stay here.” He said curtly and picked up one of the books on the table.

“Seriously Eli? It’s not that big of a deal, we’ll just apologize and then—“ Scarlette was cut off by Elias slamming the book on the table with a loud crack making the two girls jump.

“I said no — run along  _ Lette,  _ go have fun with your group of lap-dogs. Don’t even worry about it, I’m  fine .” He stood up quickly and walked further into the library until he reached the door to his and Alfie’s secret practice room.

“ _ Alohomora, _ ” the lock clicked and he swung the door open.

~~~

Scarlette watched him disappear behind the stacks and felt heat rise in her cheeks. She had the sudden urge to chase after him, but was stopped by Delphini’s hand on her arm.  _ they’re not my lap-dogs -- oh my gods Elias! You can’t even listen to what I’m saying you’re so absorbed in your own opinions of them! Maybe you should think about yourself before you go on thinking about other’s behavior! _ She couldn't bring herself to say it, and besides, he was already gone. 

~~~

Delphini felt her heart sink as Elias hurriedly stood and walked further into the library. She couldn’t blame him, she understood why he was so upset by the prospect of an apology, but it didn’t lessen the sting of watching his form disappear into the stacks. 

Scarlette moved to pursue Elias, concern written all over her face, but was stopped by Delphini gently grabbing her wrist. Elias wanted to be alone, and chasing after him had the possibility to make things worse, something that Delphini felt she couldn’t risk. 

Delphini’s face was flushed but her hands remained stubbornly icy, as they had the tendency to do. The pair left the library in the same manner in which they had come, each nodding to Madam Pince on the way out. Scarlette and Delphini walked down to dinner, ambient chatting filling the air between them. Delphini was still reluctant to go to the Great Hall and face the Marauders. As the adrenaline from the confrontation wore off, she began to feel worse and worse about yelling at them. The feeling was only compounded by the absence of Elias, which felt as though it were burning a hole in her chest. The only thing that kept her from tears was sheer will, a powerful tool that Delphini was all too familiar with employing. She participated in the conversation as best she could, but her mind was thoroughly occupied with worst-case-scenarios as they approached the hall. They passed through the great oak doors as they usually did, and Delphini kept her eyes stubbornly away from the Gryffindors as the two made their way to their usual spot at the Hufflepuff table. 

Truth be told, Delphini had no clue why the trio had chosen the Hufflepuff table as their regular spot. She was grateful, it allowed her to blend in and it spared her any additional antagonism from pureblood Slytherins, be it over her heritage or her house, but she hadn't the faintest idea why Scarlette and Elias had chosen to sit away from their own house. One thing the Hufflepuff table did have, however, was the occasional appearance of Dirk at meals. Delphini never questioned Dirk as to where he went during most mealtimes, but he seemed to act as sort of a stray cat in that he came and went as he pleased, and was generally friendly enough to whoever else Delphini was sitting with. 

The duo settled into their normal spot, with the addition of Dirk, and began to serve themselves. The conversation started out polite and borderline formal, but it soon ramped up into jabs at each other, jokes about the school, and lively comments about the food or whatever subject was at the forefront of the discussion. Dirk meshed well with the Scarlette and Delphini, able to assess their conversational style and jump in where he deemed appropriate, and overall the meal was a pleasant experience. Delphini’s participation was somewhat halfhearted, but neither of her companions commented on the fact. The pleasantness diminished momentarily at the halfway point, when Scarlette leaned over and tapped Delphini on her shoulder. 

“Hey, maybe you and I should apologize to the boys, that was a bit of an outburst,” She whispered, and the guilt came creeping full force back through Delphini’s veins, its chill branching out from where it had settled deep in her stomach. Delphini looked over her shoulder at the Marauders, mind racing to come up with what she could possibly do to make up for what had transpired. She returned her gaze to the table, where her eyes caught on a teacup. In an instant she felt her face break out into a grin. 

“I think-” She hesitated. “ I think I have an idea.” 

~~~

Elias slid down the cold stone wall of the abandoned classroom and sat on the floor, his head in his hands. _How can she not get it? Where’s the disconnect? Delphini was right to say what she did, and if she had said more she still would have been right! She’s so… she’s just… she’s so bloody stupid! … Merlin’s beard… I suppose it’s not her fault, her parents clearly did her a disservice… raising her to think the world was perfect. Still… how can she not see it. It’s_ _their fault_ _…_ _all of them Malfoy, Crouch, those bloody Griffindors, it’s their fault. They’re bad people, they’re not going to change — every time they are confronted they don’t apologize and nothing changes. I don’t want to do this with them — its all so stupid. Why can’t they just let it all be. Why can’t it just be the three of us — and then Alfie could join — and we wouldn’t ever talk about it because it would just be us — we could leave them in the fucking dirt — but no she just has to keep talking to them._ He didn’t realize he had been crying until he heard the lock click and furiously dried his eyes. Looking up he saw Alfie standing in the doorway. The freckled boy said nothing at the sight of his friend, and instead simply sat down next to him.

“You had said you were alright,” Alfie stated quietly after several moments of silence.

“I-I am — I will be — I just — I feel like I just keep missing something—”

“What, like, you’re homesick?”

“N-no it's— I’m not homesick. I don’t know — I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Well maybe you need t—“

“NO!” He jumped up off the floor and rubbed his eyes again, “Just forget this happened okay, I’ll figure it out, I’m fine… sorry for yelling, but I’m fine.” Alfie got up too and stood there for a moment before wrapping his arms around Elias in a fleeting but soft hug. He faltered for a second, he wanted to hug him back, but the embrace was already gone. 

“It’s okay,” he smiled, “we should go to dinner. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning because of the quidditch match and I’m starving!” Walking back through the library it was if nothing had happened, and Elias felt his heart calm.

“Speaking of the quidditch match, I saw you with the same girl who asked you to dance on Halloween — what’s that about?” He raised his brow in mock suspicion and Alfie chuckled.

“Oh, Christie? Y-yeah she’s really nice but… I don’t know… sometimes I feel kinda awkward about it. I wanna hang out with her more though, I think she’s cool.”

“What’d you mean awkward?”

“I’m just not very good at talking to girls I guess,” Alfie shrugged and Elias couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Well I’m not so good at talking to anyone so…” He chuckled, but Alfie gave him a suddenly serious look.

“Well then maybe you should practice.”

~~~

Elias didn’t join Delphini and Scarlette at the Hufflepuff table, instead sitting with Alfie at the most empty end of the Slytherin table and playing some muggle card game called “Spit” throughout most of the meal (Alfie was annoyingly good at it and won most of the rounds). Towards the end of dinner they were interrupted when Elias felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey Eli…” Scarlette stood behind him, “I know you’re upset and I know that you think I’m naive for wanting to see if they’d apologize — but I think it’s worth it because they’re actually really sweet! -and I don’t know why they’re so out to get you… I just want us all to get along!”  _ I don’t want to get along with them…  _

“And?”

“A-and they’ve agreed to apologize! After dinner — Del has a plan — you can keep playing cards but can you meet us near the grand staircase after the bell?”

“Y-yeah, sure. See you then.” They walked off and Elias turned back to Alfie.

“What was that about?”

“It’s a long story,” he sighed. Alfie laughed as he shuffled the cards, “what’s funny?”

“You’re so frickin dramatic!”

“I resent that accusation,” Elias scoffed sarcastically, making his friend laugh harder, “besides, it really is a long story.”

“Sure,” Alfie shook his head, still smiling. The bell rang soon after and the pair got up to leave, still not separating once they reached the stairs going to the dungeons.

“Wait— aren't you meeting that girl?” Alfie questioned.

“I don’t know… the more I think about it… I don’t think I’m gonna go.”

“Well that’s just stupid.”

“What—?”

“Well whatever you were upset about earlier clearly has something to do with whatever that girl was talking about, and just deciding not to deal with it isn’t gonna make it better.” 

“No— like I said it’s a long story—“

“How long of a story could it be? We’ve only been at school for what? Two months? I know you don’t want too — but you’ll feel better talking about it.”

“I feel horrible even thinking about talking about it!—“

“Okay well, you’ll feel better afterwards at least — just trust me okay?” Elias looked over and saw Delphini, Scarlette, and the boys standing by the other stairway _. _

_ “ _ I— you don’t understand, I feel sick…” Elias felt his stomach knot itself once again.  _ I don’t— I don’t want to think about it — I just want it to be done.  _

_ “ _ Eli— I don’t know what’s going on, but I know you should go.” 

~~~

By the time the meal was over, Dirk had slunk off to god-knows-where and the population of the Great Hall was beginning to dwindle. Delphini had hurriedly informed Scarlette of what she planned to do once she’d had her idea, and Scarlette had spent a majority of the rest of the meal deliberating internally. Elias had also come into the Great Hall part-way through, sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table and playing cards with a small Slytherin boy whom Delphini didn’t recognize. She cast occasional glances at the pair, though she contented herself with leaving Elias be. Scarlette, on the other hand, seemed less able to drop the issue. Near the end of the meal she had stood up, walking over to Elias and his friend at the Slytherin table.

Once they were done eating, Delphini stood and grabbed Scarlette’s hand. She marched the both of them over to the Gryffindor table, and watched as the Marauders took note of their approach one-by-one. By time the two made it to the Marauders, all of them had abandoned their food in favor of standing. 

Delphini momentarily faltered. The sight of all of the Marauders standing, ready for another confrontation, was enough to set all of Delphini’s fight-or-flight instincts into flight mode. Every atom of her being was telling her that she needed to leave very quickly. But Delphini did as Delphini did best, and ignored all of her better judgement. 

“Hey Scar, Del, what’s up?” Any thoughts of terror were cast out of her head at Sirius’ greeting. _ Del? Why would he choose to adopt a nickname now?  _ She sighed at the new name, and schooled her expression into something that read somewhere between exhausted and exasperated. 

“I think I spoke out of turn this afternoon. I’d like to invite you boys to come to the Hufflepuff common room.” She considered ending it there, but decided to continue. “Maybe it would be nice if you could apologize to Scarlette and Elias as well. I-I can make tea, if you’d like.” Her measured and carefully slow tone had devolved into more of nervous rambling near the end. She watched as the Marauders processed first the apology, then the offer, then the request. After a few very complicated glances, the group seemed to settle on accepting. 

James stepped up and accepted her offer first, followed by Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Delphini was immediately flooded with relief, and immediately began leading the group towards the grand staircase. The silence between them was somewhat tense, and the walk felt much longer than it had when Delphini had been alone or with Dirk.

~~~

The six of them waited by stairs for several minutes, and Scarlette began to wonder if Elias would come at all.

“I bet the prick isn’t even gonna show.” James said, apparently thinking the same.

“Don’t say that -- he said he’ll be here, so he’ll be here. Also, you all are supposed to be apologizing so maybe less of the ‘prick’ stuff?” Delphini retorted and James rolled his eyes. Scarlette fidgeted with her hands, scanning the entrance hall for any sign of him, but the crowd was too dense for her to really be able to see anything.  _ Oh gods-- I didn’t mean to make him so upset! What if Del’s wrong? What if he doesn’t come -- all we have to do is apologize and then everything will be fine! And we can all sit at the same table during meals-- and maybe we can even find a secret room where we can all hang out -- and Severus and Lucius can join, and Lily too -- we just have to apologize first-- _ The crowd began to dissipate and she saw him walking over, letting out a sigh of relief. She smiled at him and he simply nodded.

“Delphini! Lead the way!” She said, only half-feigning excitement.

~~~

They finally reached the door to the common room after passing the kitchens, and Delphini executed the knocking pattern with practiced ease. She held the door open for Scarlette and the others, watching from inside as the unlikely group piled in. They looked somewhat out of place, the rowdy Gryffindors with the on-edge Slytherins, and Delphini had the distinct urge to invite them to sit on the plush furniture and relax. Before she did so, however, she moved into the middle of the room. 

“Consilii!” She called, wincing at the volume of her own voice. The echo was soon covered up by a loud crack and the faint smell of ozone, announcing the presence of one of the kitchen elves. She sat herself down on the floor, leveling with Consislii’s large hazel eyes. The elf was slight, even by house elf standards, and Delphini had done her best to befriend him. She knew that it was somewhat silly, becoming friends with a kitchen elf, but she wanted to do it nonetheless. 

“Yes, Miss Piscus?” The elf questioned, hesitant. Delphini sighed, placing a hand on Consilii’s arm. 

“Remember, just call me Delphini.” She said, gently. Consilii nodded, smiling meekly. 

“Could you grab us some tea from the kitchen? I can help you with the saucers if you’d like. Oh! And some biscuits, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Consilii’s grin broadened and he nodded once more, disappearing back to the kitchen. Silence settled once more over the group, though it was soon broken by James and Sirius in unison. 

“We’re sorry for saying that Slytherins have no arms and legs!” They chirped. Delphini chuckled softly from where she was still sitting on the floor. Scarlette nodded at the boys, presumably accepting their apology. 

“Now apologize to Elias, please.” She said, and James and Sirius looked over to Elias. 

“Sorry, Rosier. You definitely have arms.” They spoke, with notably less enthusiasm. Elias nodded at them, despite the lackluster apology from the boys. Delphini continued to watch the group, not wanting to break the moment by standing up. Before the silence became too weighty, Remus moved towards Elias. 

“Even though I didn’t say anything, I’d just like to say sorry because James and Sirius are proper pricks.” Elias gave a warm smile at that, and Delphini stood from the floor. Thankfully, nobody paid her any mind as she dusted off her skirt.

The group began to separate into two smaller sub-groups, Elias and Remus moving to sit on one of the couches to continue their conversation, and the other Marauders taking Scarlette and sitting in a cozy corner filled with a couch, a loveseat, and various chairs. After the two groups had settled, Delphini moved over to Elias. 

~~~

Their words were so clearly empty, it wasn’t Remus’ fault but at least he tried to be sincere, but if this is what it took to end it, he would keep his mouth shut. Afterwards he decided to leave the group to their own devices and sit by the hearth in an old armchair which had a gigantic crochet blanket, seemingly made up of multiple different styles and yarns, drooping off of the sides. Scarlette may want them all to be one big happy family, but even just sitting in the same room as them he felt like an intruder. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Delphini sat down in the chair opposite him.

“Nothing much,” He smiled shortly and sipped his tea.

“A-are you… are you okay? You know, with this?” She nodded towards Scarlette and the boys. His eyes lingered on the group, deliberating on an answer, and an annoying voice with Alfie’s face popped into his head.

“I—,” he paused, looking back to the crackling fire at his feet, “No… no I’m not,” Delphini watched him, waiting for him to continue, “It’s just… they’re so mean...” he felt his eyes begin to well up again, “and I don’t know why — I- what did I do wrong…? And they don’t feel bad about it… and Scarlette just doesn’t care that they don’t… she just keeps trying to force everything to be okay when it’s not. I don’t want to be around them. I don’t feel good when I’m around them because I know they distinctly don’t want me there — because for some reason I’m so wrong and I don’t even know why—“ The pair were silent for a few long moments— Elias flicked his gaze to the others, and was glad that they were two wrapped up in some game to notice Delphini and he.

“You aren’t wrong. They’re the ones who’re wrong. They’re wrong a-and they’re bullies and they can’t even manage to  _ apologize _ — But you aren’t doing anything wrong, Elias. You’re kind and good and you haven’t done a single thing to any of them to warrant the way they keep treating you.”

“... Thanks,” he smiled, “also I never properly thanked you for yelling at them earlier… it was great, a-and please do it again whenever you see fit,” Del chuckled and nodded, “I um, I think I’m gonna leave, I know this wasn’t what was supposed to happen but I’m still glad it did. I-I’m not really used to any of this, whatsoever, and so I’m sorry I know I haven’t been making anything really easier I just don't know what to do an—“

“You and me both. It’s alright,” she gave him a smile wide and warm and he couldn’t help but return it, “go on, I’ll tell them you had to go to a study group or something.”

“Thank yo-”

“Hey!” Elias and Delphini both looked up quickly to see Remus pulling up a chair beside them, “those guys are getting pretty rowdy, can I join you?”

“Oh well Elias was just--”

“Yes! Yeah sure you can join us!” Elias said, moving his chair further to the side so Remus could get closer. Remus was after all the only one of the four who had ever actually tried to understand Elias, as well as being the only one to actually try to apologize, and there was something about him, like he reminded him of something -- he couldn’t put his finger on it -- but it just made him happy. He could stay a few minutes more

“What were you talking about?”

“Hm? Oh- complaining about the potions test that’s coming up.” Elias answered quickly and hoped his eyes weren’t red.

“Merlin’s beard, don’t remind me,” he groaned, “besides why are you complaining? You’re so good in that class!” 

“Well I’m good, I wouldn’t say  _ so _ good--”

“I mean-- Slughorn practically worships you--”

“Oh please,” Delphini chirped, “every teacher worships him it's absurd.”

“Ahhhhh so you’re a teachers pet!” Remus laughed.

“Hardly,” he scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I just pay attention in class and don't want to spend my weekends in detention. Also not every teacher, Pallando doesn’t like me, neither does Pince.” 

“I get that -- because of those two,” he nodded back towards Sirius and James, “I seem to be finding myself in and out of detention whether I want to or not.” 

“Well-- well then why do you stick around them?” Elias asked, and Remus simply looked at him and shrugged.

“They’re actually kinda nice -- or, well, nice isn’t exactly the word -- they’re fun, and better than they’ve been treating you--”

“So I keep being told.” 

“Yeah… personally I think Del was right to yell at em’.” Remus chuckled.

“But they’re your friends?”

“Yeah they’re my friends, I can still call them out for being cocks,” Neither Remus nor Elias had noticed Delphini slip away, leaving the pair by the fire, “besides, the more you call someone out the better they become, right? So what are friends for!” 

“I suppose, yeah.” Elias answered, although if he was completely honest, he wouldn’t know. They sat for a few moments in comfortable silence.

“H-hey um… I was wondering, cause you really are quite good, could you tutor me a bit in potions? With the test coming up an’ all…” Remus asked.

“O-oh yeah sure! Um, is there something in particular you’re struggling with?”

“Yeah, memorizing all the uses for stuff mostly, everything else I think I’m good on.”

“Alright well can we do it on Saturday afternoon? I’m sure I could get Professor Slughorn to allow us into the store room to study.” 

“Sure! Thank you!” 

Elias smiled and nodded and went back to fiddling with the odd crochet blanket. 

~~~

“So, Lette, how’d the Quidditch match suit you?” Scarlette smiled at James. 

“It was lovely, except for when you and Sirius were tossing paper at me…” Sirius chuckled and added, 

“Well, we had to keep your attention somehow!” Del popped into the conversation, and Scarlette asked, 

“Why’re Elias and Remus over there?” James rolled his eyes while Del looked over her shoulder to watch the boys. 

“They’re talking about something, but I’m not too sure what… I’ll go check.” She left again and Sirius said to Scarlette, 

“D’you think Del likes me?” Scarlette glanced at him and saw a blush spread across his face. 

“I don’t know…” James looks at his friend and scrunches his nose. 

“What- are you sweet on her?” Scarlette watched Sirius struggle to answer and came to the definite conclusion,  _ he is _ . The conversation eventually came to special talents that they all had. Remus, Elias and Del came over to them and soon, they were all sharing. Elias and Delphini convinced Scarlette to show her wind skills, and so Scarlette moved her hands and floated off the floor slightly before floating back onto the ground. Then, Del showed a charm that she learned at home which summoned moving pictures. The Marauders, mostly James and Sirius, displayed how well they’re connected (mostly by finishing each other’s sentences) and Remus showed how he could summon a feeble silvery light, which he explained was the beginning of a patronus. 

~~~

In the end, Delphini was the one to point out the rapidly approaching curfew. The group had drunk all the tea and eaten up most of the biscuits, allowing the conversation to draw on and amble down whatever paths and tangents it pleased. Though apologies had been issued and accepted, some tension lingered between some of the boys. Delphini did her best not to notice, and was overall reasonably successful in pretending that there wasn’t any discord among their group. It wasn’t until Delphini did point out the curfew that any of the animosity came to a head. 

Scarlette and Elias stood, saying their goodbyes to various members of the group, when James and Remus hurriedly stood beside them and offered to walk Scarlette to the Slytherin dormitory. The moment of silence that followed was exceedingly uncomfortable.

“Don’t you think one boy is good enough to protect Scarlette from the scary walls?” Elias’ voice cut through the air, sharp and annoyed. Delphini blinked, glancing over to find Sirius just as stunned as she was. 

“We’re not here to ‘protect’ her, just to offer some companionship, as her one ‘boy’ is an awfully dry companion.” James snapped back. He was looking directly at Elias. The four of them began their walk towards the door with James and Scarlette followed by Elias and Remus. Peter slipped out behind them, presumably to go directly back to the Gryffindors common room, leaving Delphini and Sirius alone. They were sitting across from one another, both cast in the warm glow of the fire raging in the hearth. Sirius looked at Delphini as though he were studying her, eyes darting continually over her face as the silence between them drew out. 

“What was  _ that _ about?” Delphini asked, voice cutting through the lingering tension in the air. Sirius shook his head briefly, seemingly trying to collect his thoughts before he responded. 

“Honestly, I’m just glad it’s over.” He chuckled, and Delphini found herself giggling too. They paused for a moment, looking up at each other briefly before slowly breaking into full, unbridled laughter. It was borderline hysterical, both of them letting their feelings about all of the turmoil spill out as a deep, resounding cackle. As their laughter died down a bit, Delphini came back to a thought she’d had earlier quite suddenly. 

“Oh! I want to give you something,” She said, scrambling up off the couch. She quickly crossed the distance to the Girl’s dormitory stairs, turning around when she reached the foot of the stairs. “Wait there!” She called, before taking off into the dormitory. The other girls scattered around the room mostly ignored her as she ran in and began rifling through her trunk, pushing aside books and clothes until she came to the stack of records at the bottom. The thumbed through them until she found the one she’d been searching for, and pulled it out with a flourish. Immediately she clambered to her feet and ran back down the stairs, record in hand, back to where Sirius was waiting. He looked up when she came in, blue eyes widening when he saw what she was holding. 

“Piscus, you have  _ records _ ?” He asked, eyes darting down to the record in Delphini’s hands and back up to her face.

“Yeah, of course I do! I only brought my favorites here, but I have a bigger collection at home.” Sirius’ eyebrows rose towards his hairline. Delphini crossed back over to the middle of the room, settling on the couch beside Sirius instead of where she’d been sitting before. She shoved the record into his hands, watching as he read the cover. “I don’t know if you know Janis Joplin, but I really like her. This is her album, Pearl.” Sirius still seemed stunned by the record in his hands, hardly noticing as Delphini absently knocked their shoulders together. 

Delphini ran through recent events in her mind, stomach dropping as she realized that Sirius had never issued a serious, genuine apology to Elias.  _ If Scarlette won’t confront him on the issue,  _ she thought, gathering up her courage,  _ then I suppose I must.  _

She drew a deep breath. “Sirius, why are you such a bully to Elias?” She asked. Sirius looked up from the album, then back down at it. 

“Piscus, are we really gonna-“ 

“Yes, we are.” She insisted, voice curt. “I want to be your friend, I really do, and I think you really are nice, but I can’t if you’re going to keep acting like this. Elias has done nothing to deserve it, he’s never even been mean to you lot, but you keep treating him like he’s some dangerous lunatic!” Delphini was growing frustrated, and her voice was steadily getting louder as she kept speaking. 

“You don’t know that he  _ isn’t  _ dangerous! He’s yelled at Scarlette, he’s hit me, who’s to say he won’t hurt you?” 

“I am!” Delphini was outright shouting. “I know he’d never hurt me because he’s nice and considerate and maybe you could see that if you weren’t so busy being mean to him for no reason!” She took a deep breath, trying desperately to regain her composure. “Sirius, I mean it. I can’t keep being your friend if you don’t step up.” She felt Sirius take a deep breath beside her, eyes darting back and forth as he deliberated. Delphini let her own eyes wander around the room, not willing to look at Sirius. The two sat in tense silence for a long while before Delphini’s gaze landed on the clock above the hearth.

“The curfew!” She exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing Sirius’ free hand and leading him towards the door. 

“Piscus- you might be the only person in this whole school who gives a single damn about the curfew.” Sirius said, allowing Delphini to drag him out of the room. Delphini was undeterred by his argument. 

“I won’t have you getting more detention time because you were caught by Filch!” She said, pushing him out into the hallway. She moved to shut the door, but Sirius put a hand on her arm. 

“Delphini, wait, I-“ Delphini perked up at the mention of her first name. “I wanted to thank you. For the record, and for getting everyone together like this. I know it kind of went south at the end but thank you. For trying.” He finished, a flush creeping over his neck. He withdrew his hand from Delphini’s arm, letting it fall to hold the record. Delphini blinked, the barest hint of a smile returning to her face. 

“Of course.” She said, and shut the door.

~~~

All too soon it was time to go, Elias and Scarlette bid the group goodnight. Quickly, James and Remus shot up and offered to take Scarlette back. Elias looked annoyed and even said, 

“Don’t you think one boy is good enough to protect Scarlette from the scary walls?” James looked at him angrily and said, 

“We’re not here to ‘protect’ her, just to offer some companionship, as her one ‘boy’ is an awfully dry one.” Elias scowled but decided to not grace James with a reply. They all walked down the corridor in pairs, Elias and Remus in the front and Scarlette and James in the back. 

“So, Lette, how’s… everything?” James looked at her, very seriously. She looked at him, confused, and answered, 

“It’s really good, I think…” He looked at her and then down onto the floor. 

“That’s good. I saw you talking to Snivellus.” Scarlette was confused, 

“Who?” James said bitterly, 

“Snape.” Scarlette looked at his face. 

“Why’s that bad?” She asked. James looked comically sick.

“He and Evans seem really close-”

“They are, I spend afternoons with them sometimes. They’re good friends, but I think Lily’s sweet on a fifth year-” James sighs. 

“I just hope he isn’t changing her.” Scarlette shook her head. 

“I doubt he is.” 

They finally reached the Slytherin common room and Remus and James bid the pair goodnight. 

“James is a funny kid.” Elias watched Scarlette say the password, and she responded, 

“Yeah, he is. An awfully sweet funny kid, I’m not a fan of how he treats you- or Sev.” 

“Sev?” Elias asked, tilting his head. Scarlette nodded. 

“Yeah, Snape.”

“How’s he treating Severus?” Scarlette walked to the girls’ staircase.

“Rudely. G’night Eli.” She smiled sweetly at him and he waved her off. 

She walked down the silent hallways, thinking about nothing peculiar. When she walked into her dorm the other girls were all asleep and she went and sat at the window. Fish swim past and dart away from the light that shone through the window. As she sat there, her head began to hurt, and she felt very hot. Quickly, the feeling passed and she rested her head on the cold window.

Out in the dark water, she saw a shadowy tentacle slide away in the mud. 

~~~

Elias entered his dorm as quietly as he could, the lights had already dimmed and it seemed like most people were asleep. 

“So? How’d it go?” The voice made him jump slightly and he turned to see Alfie, laying on his bed, a book open in his lap.

“I--” he gave it a moment's thought, “I think it went well actually… not great but not horrible I suppose.” Alfie smiled and went back to reading while he readied himself for bed. Elias paused for a moment and looked down at the small brown package on his night stand,  _ huh… I completely forgot. _ He picked it up and stared down at it for a moment, considering whether or not to open it.

“What’s that?” 

“Hm? Oh-- just something my parents sent me.” He said quietly.

“A care package?”

“No… well, I don’t know. It’s a present… it’s um… it’s my birthday today…” He mumbled at the floor and Alfie immediately jumped up.

“What?!” He whisper-yelled and ran towards Elias’ bed, “Why didn’t you tell me?! Happy birthday!!” Alfie beamed at him, but could only shrug in response. Birthdays had never been especially fantastic, he hadn’t had a party for it since he was four and hadn’t been to one since he was six. Every year he and his parents went to Edinburgh to his favorite restaurant, they presented him with an expensive yet practical gift, and then went home. That was it, and it was alright, he much preferred it to a large party, and he didn’t see a real reason to celebrate anyways. He could never shake the feeling that it was obligatory rather than earned. 

“Well, what did they send you?” Alfie said, sitting down next to him, “Go on, you have to open it!”

“Alright… “ He carefully peeled back the wrapping, beneath was a layer of cloth that seemed to be covering some kind of book -- which wouldn’t be all too surprising, he assumed it was probably a new textbook on advanced spells or potioneering. Although, when he unraveled the fabric, what fell into his lap left him frozen in shock. It  _ was _ a book, but it was small and hand-bound, with the words “Our Little Island” written in his mother’s tight cursive along the spine. He opened it and gently flicked to the front page -- it was a photograph of his mother and father, standing in front of their house, with the grey mountains in the background… they were waving at him. 

“Woah… is that your house?” Alfie stared in awe and Elias nodded slowly. He turned page after page, some with waves crashing down onto the beach, others of Vera and Monty asleep in their den, or Cosmo curling up in his mother's lap. He was only halfway through when he had to stop, he hadn’t even noticed there were tears in his eyes until they were so clouded he could no longer see.

“Eli…? What’s wrong? Do you miss them?”

“Y-yeah, but t-that’s n-not it…” He said while attempting to rub his eyes dry with his sleeve.

“What is it then…?”

“I just -- I didn’t k-know I missed them… or that they missed me.” 

Alfie didn’t respond, instead just nudged slightly closer and put his arm around Elias’ shoulder.

“Listen, Alfie,” Elias said after a short while, “I- I’m sorry, about earlier, I feel like I’ve pulled you into some mess you didn’t need to be an--”

“It’s okay, really, I wanted to help, after all what are friends for?” 

He smiled.


End file.
